


cymar

by Ciwpid (gwenynnefydd)



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Anal Fingering, Aromantic Merlin (Kingsman), Asexual Merlin (Kingsman), Betrayal, Domestic Violence, Fix-It, Frottage, Grief, Hartwin & Queerplatonic Merlin, Impotence, James Bond References, Kissing, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Public Masturbation, Star Trek References, Tattoos, soul marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2020-02-27 09:06:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18735934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwenynnefydd/pseuds/Ciwpid
Summary: "I wanted it to be the both of you so bad that I didn’t want to know what it would feel like to have someone different."Soulmate AU. Soul mates and soul marks are considered the greatest gift any deity or non-deity can give you. But for Eggsy, he soon learns finding and holding on to your soulmate is not the bed of roses it’s made out to be.(Duplicate posting)





	cymar

**Author's Note:**

> This is a duplicate of [this fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5292989) \- I orphaned the work quite a while back, and am currently in the process of reclaiming some of my old orphaned works. The original gDoc this was written in is available as proof this is mine.
> 
> The art for this fic was created by the very talented port-sea-wind, who has unfortunately vanished from Tumblr. If you're reading, thank you so much!
> 
> Written originally for the Kingsman Big Bang.

* * *

 Soul mates were a funny thing. In this world, they were the be all and end all, the ultimate prize offered by whatever deity you did or did not believe in, offered to you by a black stain pattern of their name on your body. A teenage turning point - children who were raised on bedtime stories of the princess who was saved by her soulmate knight would flock around the first person in their class to develop their mark, and teenage girls would doodle their crushes name on their arms in gel pen, mimicking the intricate tattoo-like pattern of a soulmate mark. The gossip magazines fawned over the soulmarks of their favourite celebrities, and idolised models whose beauty came from the soulmark pattern across their faces and mouths.

Of course, that was what it looked like through rose tinted glasses. Soulmarks did not come through like petals blooming on skin. They burned and blistered and bruised their way through each layer of skin, causing many a teenager to break down crying as the name ripped through their skin. Sometimes people would wake up in a pool of their own blood as their pattern ripped out through their skin in a particularly blood rich place like the cheek. There were dedicated nurses and holistic health workers on hand to protect forming names, prescribing oils and pills to soothe the pain, and a shoulder to cry on if the name turned out to not be who they expected it to be.

They were an open sore that often became infected if it was not looked after properly, and following infection, would scar and distort the name. Or sometimes they never developed at all. There was a raging black market for these people - it was illegal to forge or ‘fix’ a soul mark, but that didn’t stop them. Tattoos for the unmarked ranged from backstreet stick-and-pin tattoos to backrooms by sympathetic tattooists. Being nameless was shameful, a curse upon your family. Those born without names were ostracised, and encouraged to not have children, and told they would never marry.

“Who would want an unmarked spouse?” they cried in the opinion columns of the newspapers. “Unmarked boys only break your hearts” said the gossip mag’s ‘Love Corner’, then continued on with “Unmarked boys love who they want, and will leave you if they tire”. And every other day there was a sex crime on the telly, another rape, another forced marriage, and the first question on everyone’s lips is “Was she marked?”. The unmarked were always at fault, of course - “if she had a mark she wouldn’t be sleeping around” as if she could suddenly wish hard enough and one would sprout from her arms. It was illegal to discriminate against the unmarked, of course, but that didn’t stop the hidden questions in the interviews, the bias, the assumption that unmarked workers caused trouble in the workplace.

And with all his other disadvantages, Eggsy got the full brunt of it all. Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin, working class boy with a history of crime, son of a single mother and a step-father whose attitude was known all over the block, a boy who hit twenty-one unmarked and didn’t even have the option of marrying a soul mate out of his class and would probably amount to nothing. He’d always tried to keep his unmarkedness under wraps, so naturally his entire street knew about it, and if Eggsy had a tenner every time someone gave him a pitying look or pulled their children away from him, he wouldn’t even be on this street in the first place. But being known to be unmarked had a few benefits - many a time he wiggled out of charges by a sympathetic officer, who thought “he’s unmarked, he’s just acting out, once his mark comes through he’ll settle down”.

But apparently after the third charge of car theft, the no-mark sob story lost its touch.

“Eggsy, look. I know you’ve had your issues with your...” The state-hired lawyer in front of him made a strange sound in the back of his throat, and gave him a fake sympathetic smile. “...but this is your third charge. Either you give me the names of the boys you were with, or you go down.”

Eggsy crossed his arms and remained silent. Under the dingy lighting of the police holding cell, the greying lawyer seemed to be even less patient than usual - the smile quickly soured into into a baring of teeth at Eggsy’s continued silence. He pushed the confession paper towards Eggsy. Eggsy ignored it.

“It’s your choice, of course.” the man said, his weaselly face about five seconds from becoming a snarl. “But this will be on your records for a  _ very  _ long time. What would your  _ mark  _ say-?”

“I’d like to exercise my right to a phone call.” Eggsy interrupted tightly. The lawyer blinked a little. He seemed prepared to argue, but his eyes fell to Eggsy’s clenched fists and he sighed.

“Well, I hope it’ll be to your mother.” the man said, picking up the paper and ripping it in half. “Better tell her you’re gonna be eighteen months late for your dinner. Lord knows how you’ll get out of this...”

The lawyer knocked on the door of the holding cell, and a policeman on the other side opened it up to let him through. As soon as the door banged shut, Eggsy rested his forehead on the cold metal table and exhaled. Loudly.

_ Shit _ .

He knew immediately who he would call - the medal he wore around his neck felt warm and solid in his hand as he pulled it from under his shirt. He was saving this for a special occasion - maybe when Mum nearly died from Dean’s treatment or if Daisy went missing during one of Dean’s drunk spells. And he would be lying if he didn’t admit that he felt a little guilty for using this one favour on himself. But this was dire, and it wasn’t as if he could help Mum defend herself if he was locked up…

Eggsy took a deep breath, and dialled out the number on the back of the coin.

“Customer complaints, how may I help you?”

This was not a good start.

“Err, hi,” Eggsy said nervously. “I’m Eggs- Gary Unwin, I was told to phone this number if I was in trouble, and I’m up shit’s creek with no hope of getting out of being arrested-”

“Sorry love,” the voice on the other end of the phone interrupted. “Wrong number.”

“No, shit, wait-!” Eggsy shut his eyes and rubbed at his temples. “Oxfords not brogues?”

There was silence. And then-

“Your complaint has been noted. We hope we haven’t lost you as a loyal customer.”

And then the line went dead. Eggsy let the phone slip from his lifeless fingers, a hollow ache beginning in his chest. He was really done in for now, he had no chance of escaping a prison sentence, his mum was going to go mental, and Daisy would probably be wondering why her big brother left her with a bad man like Dean-

Eggsy wasn’t sure how much time he spent wallowing in his misery, but the sudden bang of the holding cell door was enough to break him out of it. A hulking policeman stood in the doorway, his face blank and cold. He stared at Eggsy for a minute, and Eggsy stared back, trying to look defiant in the face of a hopeless cause.

“You need to come with me.” the man said gruffly.

“Where to?” Eggsy asked, his hands coming to fold in front of his chest.

“To the front.” A muscle in the man’s jaw twitched. “You’re being let go.”

“You’re taking the  _ piss _ .”

“Afraid not.”

“I’m being let go? Just like that?”

“Well, you can stay here and be arrested if you really want-”

“No, no, I’ll go! I’ll go.” In a bit of a daze, Eggsy followed the man out of the cell. True to his word, they went straight to the front desk. Eggsy found himself signing a ton of forms, but it was as if his body was on autopilot. His mind was still somewhere in the holding cell, reeling over the fact that somehow, somewhere a miracle had been performed, and he was free to go with no charges. He barely registered dirty look the lawyer he spoke to before gave him as he passed by, his body intent on getting through the front door.

The late autumn sun shone down on him as he stepped outside the police station, the cold light dragging his shadow out into a long, thin facsimile of a man. The air smelt of freshly stubbed out cigarettes and petrol, bitter and strong and yet Eggsy took a good lungful of it in, as if he’d never smelt it before. The people around him passed him by without a second glance, and yet he felt like shaking every single one of them and yelling “I got off!  _ I got off! _ ”. He could scarcely believe it - as he nearly skipped towards the busy street, he kept looking around as if this was some terrible cosmic joke and soon someone would shout out and put him in handcuffs, and he would be sent back inside...

“Eggsy.” Someone called out to him as he trotted down the stairs. “Fancy a lift home?”

Eggsy turned to look at the source of the voice. He was pretty sure he’d never met the man ever in his life, because a face like that was hard to forget. Soft brown hair, sepia tinted glasses, a old fashioned umbrella and a suit that looked like it was fresh off the runway - no, Eggsy had not met this man before, but going by his looks, he sure wished he had. He swallowed hard, hoping this man wasn’t going to be the man who sent him back inside the station.

“Who are you?” he asked.

The man gave an enigmatic smile. “The man who got you released.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“A little gratitude would be nice.” Eggsy barely refrained from rolling his eyes - style and an attitude? This was a man after Eggsy’s heart. He raised an eyebrow at the man, expecting some kind of elaboration. He was not disappointed.

“My name’s Harry Hart.” The man continued after a small pause. “I gave you that medal. Your father saved my life.”

* * *

After a revelation like that, there was no way Eggsy was going to let this guy out of his sight without some answers. And it seemed this Harry had the same idea - they hadn’t gone half a mile before Harry had offered to ‘talk over a drink’. Eggsy had expected to be taken to some poncy little cafe where the pastries cost as much as a small car, but he was surprised - Harry’s idea of going out for drinks was to visit Eggsy’s local pub.

“This doesn’t seem like your usual haunt, mate.” Eggsy commented as Harry returned from the bar, two pints of bitter in his hands. 

“It’s not,” Harry replied amiably, giving Eggsy a slight smile as he set the drinks on the table. “Your father introduced me to this establishment - I don’t get to come here as often as I would like, but…”

“Live outside the area?”

“You could say that. Plus working where I do, in a world-famous tailor’s, you don’t get many days off.”

“A tailor? One of them Savile Row types, aye?”

“Yes. Kingsman - have you heard of them?”

“Do I look that posh? Adidas is the biggest name I know, mate.”

“It was worth a try.”

“But being a tailor, how did you meet my dad? Was you in the army or something?”

“Something like that.”

“Can you tell me about it? Or is it all ‘classified’?”

“Most of it is… classified. But there are some things…” Harry continued for some time, speaking about his father and what he did and how much of a good person he was, but Eggsy wasn’t really paying attention. He was more focused on Harry’s voice, how his breath would catch on certain words, how he pronounced things. Eggsy never thought he would like a posh accent, but Harry made it sound warm and accepting, and Eggsy could not help but feel calmed by his voice. This feeling, of utter calm, he’d only ever heard about it in story books, between two marked people. He knew he was getting ahead of himself, but if his mark ever came through, he wouldn’t complain if it was Harry, in fact he would be  _ glad _ -

“-And I think your father would be bitterly disappointed in the choices you’ve made.”

Eggsy fell out of his daydreams with a sharp  _ thud _ .

“You can’t talk to me like that.” Eggsy replied, mentally scrambling to gather his wits. Harry gave him a cold, tight-lipped smile.

“Massive IQ, brilliant primary school scores… then it went tits up, with drugs and petty crime. You were pegged as Olympic team medal in gymnastics, you were lauded during army training-”

“You think I chose to give them up?” Eggsy snapped. “I left the army because Mum threw a fit! And do you really think a guy like Dean’s gonna stand for a step-son who points his fucking toes for a living?!”

“Ah yes, always someone else’s fault…”

Oh no. He was an actual snob. He started to rethink his initial attraction - how the hell could he have thought he wanted to be marked by Harry? He felt the bubble of anger rise up into his throat.

“You think I wanted to quit?” Eggsy finally snarled, leaning forward and scowling at the older man. “You think I wanted to give up the best thing that happened to me? I didn’t have a fucking  _ choice!  _ It’s easy for you, sitting up in your ivory tower with all the best things at your fingertips, but down here you have to make choices. When family’s the only thing you’ve got left, sometimes you  _ have  _ to give up something good! I’m sure if we all had silver spoons shoved up our arses, we’d all be doing as well as you! Probably even better! But we don’t, alright? We  _ don’t _ .” Eggsy flung himself back into his seat and took a large gulp of his pint. Harry was looking at him, but he didn’t seem angry. On the contrary, he looked rather  _ fond- _

“Oi, what the  _ fuck  _ you doing in here?!”

Both men turned. Rottweiler was stood in the middle of the pub, his gang of dogs stood behind him trying to act like a pack of wolves. Eggsy held back a small sigh. 

_ Great _ .

“Some other young men who could do with a silver suppository?” Harry asked politely. Eggsy glowered at him.

“There are some exceptions.” he bit out, watching Rottweiler and his gang advance on them, his face contorted into a scowl. “Come on, we’d better-”

“You think you can how your face in here again?” Rottweiler was suddenly right in front of him, pressing a finger into Eggsy’s chest. “After the shit you pulled with my car?!”

“Dean says you’re fair game now.” another growled from the pack. “He don’t give a shit what your mum says-”

“Look, boys-” Harry interrupted, setting down his drink. “I’ve had a rather emotional day, and whatever your beef with Eggsy is - and I’m sure it’s well founded - could it please wait until I’ve finished this rather lovely pint of Guinness?”

Harry gave the men a butter-may-melt smile, and Eggsy shut his eyes. Not only was he a snob, he was a snob with no self preservation instinct. Eggsy resisted the urge to throttle the man.

“Look grandad,” Rottweiler said after a pause. “You better get out the way or you’ll get hurt.”

“He’s right, you should go.” Eggsy murmured to him. Someone had to protect this pretty boy snob from himself, after all. Harry looked between Eggsy and Rottweiler, evidently weighing up the pros and cons, before sighing. He got up out of his seat and passed through the gang, picking up his umbrella on the way. The group of men sniggered and smirked between themselves as he walked away, and one of them called out-

“If you’re looking for another  _ rent-boy _ , try the corner of Smith Street.”

This was precisely the wrong thing to say. Eggsy saw Harry’s back stiffen as he paused mid-stride. He carried on walking, but Eggsy could tell from the way he held himself that he was angry. Eggsy crossed his fingers and hoped Harry wouldn’t pick a fight.

“Manners. Maketh. Man” Harry suddenly said, punctuating each word with a slide of a lock. “Do you know what that means?”

Rottweiler and his gang turned around, and looked at him. The nasty snarls that were aimed at Eggsy were now aimed at Harry, who’s back was still turned. Eggsy shut his eyes again. Oh god, he an  _ idiot _ .

“No?” Harry asked, all innocence and virtue. Rottweiler’s gang looked between themselves and muttered angrily. Eggsy saw Harry’s hand tighten briefly on his umbrella.

“Then let me show you.”

And then Harry let rip.

If Eggsy had not seen it with his own eyes, he would never had believed it. Harry practically danced around Rottweiler’s gang, landing blow after blow on the men without a scratch on himself. And he had some slick gear too - somehow he managed to electrocute Poodle from across the room, and he was pretty sure he would ram that umbrella of his up the arsehole of any of the gang given half the chance. No matter what the thugs tried to pull, Harry was one step ahead, avoiding their blows with unexpected grace. Eggsy could only watch in admiration as Harry dispatched the last of the thugs, shrugged his suit back into place, before taking out the barman.

And not a fucking hair out of place.

Harry rejoined him at the table, and Eggsy was never so glad to have a table between the two of them. His body was torn between feeling terrified and being intensely aroused - his mind was blank with shock, but his cock was incredibly interested in Harry Hart fighting for his honour. Harry drained the last of his drink, and Eggsy shifted a little in his seat.

“Sorry about that.” Harry said blandly. “Needed to let off a little steam.”

Eggsy didn’t trust himself to reply in anything other than an aroused croak, so he remained silent.

“I learnt a friend of mine died yesterday.” Harry continued, seemingly oblivious to Eggsy’s state. “He knew your father too, actually…”

Eggsy nodded slowly, still staring wide-eyed at Harry. Harry gave him a small smile.

“I really do apologize, I shouldn’t have done that in front of you-” And suddenly Eggsy found himself facing the weapon that had only knocked out the barman a few minutes ago. Eggsy didn’t know much about weaponized watches, but he did know he really did not want one of those darts in his neck, and he really didn’t think the aroused throb his cock gave at the threat was really appropriate either. He put his hands in the air.

“No,” Eggsy croaked, flushing a little as he willed his voice to be stronger. “Please, I swear I won’t say nothing- if there’s anything I can do it’s keep my mouth shut-”

“You won’t tell a soul?” Harry asked in a slight growl that went straight to Eggsy’s nethers.

“Not one, I swear I’ve never grassed anyone up-”

“Is that a promise?”

“On my life!”

There was a pause as Harry seemed to stare into Eggsy’s soul. Eggsy looked back, his face flushed and his breathing a little quicker that it normally was. He didn’t know what had made Harry trust him so, but after a little time Harry dropped his hand, and gave him a funny little smile.

“Much appreciated, Eggsy.” Harry said, leaning across to clap him on the shoulder. “Good luck with everything.”

With that, Harry Hart walked out the door, neatly stepping over a fallen patron as he went. The door snapped shut, and Eggsy was left with several unconscious men and the biggest stiffy he’d ever sported.

Jesus fucking  _ Christ _ .

Eggsy drained the last of his beer, before drumming his fingers on the empty glass. Something in the back of his mind was telling him to get the fuck out of there, but the rest of his body was pinned to the seat, unable or unwilling to move, trying to process what had just happened. For the life of him he couldn’t think of anything other than Harry bloody Hart, with his pupils blown wide and his hair a mess and his fists flying and this really wasn’t helping  quash his libido. There was no way he was going to walk out of this pub without embarrassing himself, and he wasn’t about to rearrange himself in the middle of a pub, even if all of its inhabitants were knocked unconscious.

He looked towards the men’s bathroom.

He shifted a little in his seat.

Well, he’d done worse things in his life.

He managed to convince his body to slide out of the booth and stagger towards the bathroom. His cock felt incredibly exposed as he crossed the room, and he had to quash the temptation to press the palm of his hand down against the tent in his trackies. The door of the bathroom opened with a squeal, and Eggsy darted inside, pressing his back up against it so it would shut quicker. He didn’t even lock the bathroom door, too desperate to get one hand around his hard cock to bother. His thumbs hooked into the waistband of his trackies, hitching them down so they pooled around his knees. His boxer-briefs soon joined them, leaving his filled cock to bounce lightly in the stale air.

Eggsy’s hand fisted around his cock almost immediately, only pausing briefly to spit in his hand, his mouth letting an ungodly moan as his slicked hand hit where it was needed most. He didn’t even pretend he wasn’t thinking of Harry as he wanked - the man couldn’t see him, and Eggsy would probably never hear from him again, so he could do what he liked. As his hand moved at a frenzied pace along his shaft, his mind conjured up fantasies of Harry’s hand on his cock, Harry’s mouth whispering obscenities into his ear, Harry being covered in blood and sweat and altogether quite ruined and pinning him to the door, his hot, wet skin sliding against Eggsy’s thighs and neck and ears and  _ mouth- _

The door gave an ominous rattle as Eggsy slid down it, the heated skin of his arse hitting the cold tiled floor with a soft  _ smack _ . Eggsy whined at the sudden cold, but that didn’t stop his hand moving a mile a minute. He was so far gone now - his cock was leaking copious amounts of precum, the head nearly purple from the stimulation. The piss-stained pub bathroom seemed a million miles away to Eggsy, whose mind was hooked on a mantra of  _ Harry Harry Harry Harry _ , whose hand was working a storm against his cock, who desperately,  _ desperately  _ wished it was Harry’s hand, Harry’s mouth,  _ Harry’s- _

“Har-r-  _ ah! _ ” Eggsy came with a strangled cry, his white spunk splattering against his shirt and his cock pulsing in his hand. His hand kept moving on it’s own, milking every last shudder and spike of pleasure from his sputtering cock. Eggsy rolled his head back, letting it hit the door with a dull  _ thud _ . His heart was beating a mile a minute, his skin stank of sweat and sex, and he could not remember having a better wank in his life. He shut his eyes and smiled.

He could almost hear the sound of Harry crying out his name as he came.

* * *

 

It wasn’t until late when he finally made his way home. Getting out of the pub was a lot harder than getting in - Rottweiler’s gang were already stirring when he stepped out of the toilet, and he couldn’t be sure that any of them had forgotten who Harry was with in the first place. The streets back to his home were busy with the start of the night shift and the end of the evening shift, as it usually was, and yet Eggsy couldn’t quite place his internal feeling of something was very off.

The flat he came home to was also remarkably quiet. Daisy wasn’t chattering away or crying as she usually was in the evening. Eggsy took two steps into the flat and looked around.

“Mum?” he called out. There was a slight scuffle, and then Michelle Unwin, his mum, dived out of one of the back rooms. She had been crying, Eggsy could tell, and her face was pinched and drawn.

“Eggsy,” she said, and Eggsy had never heard her sound more terrified in his life. “Eggsy, please just go-”

“Mum, what’s happened? Where’s Dais-”

“Just go, Eggsy  _ please _ . He’s going to kill you I  _ swear,  _ just  _ go- _ ”

The question of “who” died on Eggsy’s lips as Dean rounded the corner, his face a mask of rage. He stormed up to him, pushing Michelle into the wall when she tried to intervene. Eggsy reached out to help her, but he soon found himself pushed up against the fridge, a knife to his neck. Michelle started to cry, and pulled pathetically at Dean’s arm, but it was of no use. Eggsy was well and truly trapped.

“Who was he?!” Dean growled at him, his face inches from his own and spittle splashing his face. 

" I don’t know who you’re on about-” 

“Don’t  _ fucking  _ play games, who the  _ fuck  _ was with you in that pub!?”

“I was on my own, I  _ swear _ -”

“You fucking  _ liar,  _ tell me the geezer’s  _ name- _ ”

“I don’t know who you’re on about, I don’t-”

Dean’s slashed his face with the knife, leaving a thin cut across his cheek _. _

“You fucking  _ bastard,  _ tell me his  _ name,  _ his fucking  _ name- _ ”

“I don’t know who the  _ fuck  _ you’re on about,  _ piss off- _ ”

“You  _ fucking shitbag _ , you tell me right now or I’ll rip your face apart-”

“I wasn’t  _ with  _ no-one-”

“Yes you were, I swear to god-”

“Let me  _ go-! _ ”

“-I swear to god, I’m going to fucking  _ wreck  _ your sorry mug, there isn’t going to be  _ anyone  _ who’ll want your unmarked  _ arse _ after I’m though with you-”

“Fucking  _ shit,  _ I was on my own I swear! I was on my fucking  _ own- _ ”

“Eggsy, Eggsy just tell him-” Michelle tried to intervene, but Dean pointed the knife at her and she soon backed off.

“Get the  _ fuck  _ away, girl- I’m going to  _ rip your kid apart,  _ I’m not going to  _ stop  _ until your  _ whore  _ of a son tell me who the fuck he was with-”

“I don’t-”

“You fucking  _ do _ , you fucking  _ liar,  _ I’m going to kill you  _ right now _ and there isn’t anyone who can stop me-”

“I can.”

Harry’s voice echoed around the suddenly silent flat. Dean’s face went slack with shock, and the knife he held in his hand slid out of his grasp and onto the floor. Michelle was staring wide eyed at Eggsy between her fingers, and he realised belatedly that Harry’s voice was coming from a spot on his shoulder. He looked down, and saw a tiny speaker embedded in his jacket.

“Who the fuck-?” Dean had not noticed where the voice was coming from, and was looking wildly around the flat, trying to see where Harry was hidden.

“I have enough evidence on your activities to have you locked up for the rest of your days, Mr  _ Dean Anthony Baker _ .” Harry continued, a note of steel in his calm voice. “So I suggest you step away from the boy.  _ Now. _ ”

Dean obediently took three steps back.

“Good. Eggsy?” Harry’s tone changed completely when he said Eggsy’s name - he now sounded pleasant, and Eggsy could almost imagine his smile.

“Yeah?” Eggsy replied shakily.

“Meet me at the tailor I told you about.” And with that, the flat went silent again. Dean glared hard at him breathing heavily. Michelle took a step forward, her face torn between recognition of the voice, and absolute horror at recognising the voice.

“Eggsy,” Michelle said quietly. “Eggsy, I don’t think-”

Eggsy took one look at her and Dean, before ripping open the front door and fleeing.

* * *

 

Savile Row was a far quieter part of London than he expected it to be. Sure, Eggsy was used to above-average hustle and bustle on his streets - the police were often around, there were bar fights and drag races, and even leaving today he had to catapult himself off a few balconies to get rid of Rottweiler and his gang. But Savile Row was still very quiet - the only life he saw on the streets were the twitch of curtains from the flats above. Neighbours who probably wondered why a street rat like him was walking on their patch.

The Kingsman shop was easily spotted amongst the tall buildings - it was the only store with its bright shopfront still illuminated at this time of night. The gold “Kingsman” window sticker glimmered in the fluorescent light, as did numerous watched that decorated the base of the display. Eggsy stared up at the fancy smoking jackets in the window, and wondered how the  _ hell  _ he’d managed to get the attention of a handsome, world-class tailor.

Well, he  _ couldn’t  _ be a tailor. Not with fighting skills like that. When Eggsy thought tailor, he thought old ninny with a paunch sat in an overstuffed armchair, sowing by hand despite there being an old-fashioned sewing machine a few feet away. No, Harry Hart was not a tailor, no matter what he said. Tailors made suits and gloves and fancy ass socks that cost far too much for what they were. Tailors did not knock out entire pubs, tailors did not break young men out of police stations, tailors did not secretly stick hidden microphones on strangers and listen to their families rip them apart-

In this moment, it occurred to Eggsy that Harry had probably heard him jacking off in the pub toilets too, which was a touch awkward.

He resolved never to bring that up in front of the man.

He pushed open the door before he could dwell on that thought any longer than necessary. Eggsy could see through the glass of the connecting door that the inside was just as fancy as the outside - the walls were either covered in reams of fabric or majestic paintings, but either way Eggsy was pretty sure he hadn’t been this near to expensive things in his life. Harry was sat just inside the door, lounging on a posh leather sofa, a glass tumbler in one hand. He looked up at Eggsy as Eggsy pushed open the connecting door, eyeing him with a strange glint in his eyes.

“I’ve never met a tailor before.” Eggsy said quietly. “But I know you’re not one.”

Harry stared at him some more, before he drained the last of his drink.

“Come with me.” he replied, setting his glass on a nearby side table. Harry lead him through the store, past an antiquated desk that looked older than the shop itself, and into a small dressing room. Eggsy stopped just inside the doorway, a little confused. Part of his imagination had already run off in the direction of the Other Things Harry could do to him in this room, but the rational side of his brain was suggesting maybe it wasn’t a good idea to follow a man who knocked out an entire pub into a small enclosed space - especially since Eggsy was on track to figuring out the man’s secrets.

“Come on in,” Harry said, smiling a little at Eggsy’s hesitation. “I promise I won’t bite.”

Great, now his imagination was running riot over the thought of Harry biting him. Eggsy pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and stepped into the room, settling in front of the three full-length mirrors at the front of the room. Harry stepped in behind him, barely leaving any space between his front and Eggsy’s back. Eggsy could feel the heat radiating from the other man, and had to consciously stop himself from leaning into it.

“Look in the mirror, Eggsy.” Harry said quietly. “What do you see?”

How the hell was he supposed to answer that? He supposed “posh totty and his rent boy” wouldn’t go down too well, nor “fancy man and his newest fan”. “Beaten street boy with wealthy saviour” came to mind as he noticed the cut from Dean’s knife had started to coagulate on his face, he really should have washed that before he came…

" Someone who wants to know what the fuck is going on.” he finally settled on saying, giving Harry a raised eyebrow. Harry looked as if he knew exactly what Eggsy was thinking, but let it slip by.

“I see… A young man with potential.” Harry said after a minute, and Eggsy could not stop his heart skipping a beat. “Who’s loyal. Who can do what he’s asked to do and who wants to do some good with his life.” He paused, letting Eggsy have time to let the words sink in. “Have you ever seen the film  _ Trading Places _ ?”

“No.”

“How about  _ Nikita _ ?”

Eggsy shook his head.

“ _ Pretty Woman? _ ”

Eggsy drew a face. 

“Alright, forget that. What I’m trying to say is that you’ve been set on a certain path because of where you’ve come from. But you don’t have to stay there - I can give you the opportunity to transform, if you’re willing.”

_ That sounded familiar… _

“Oh, like in  _ My Fair Lady? _ ” Harry blinked.

“Well, you’re full of surprises, aren’t you.” He smiled into the mirror, and Eggsy could not help but smirk in response. “Yes, like in  _ My Fair Lady _ . Except I’m giving you an opportunity to become a Kingsman.”

“A Kingsman ‘tailor’?” Eggsy asked lightly. Harry gave him a look.

“A Kingsman  _ agent _ .”

“Like a spy?”

“Of sorts. Interested?”

Eggsy grinned widely. Oh, this was  _ so  _ much better than whatever his libido was coming up with.

“You think I’ve got anything to lose?”

Something in Harry’s eyes sparkled at Eggsy’s response. He leaned over Eggsy’s shoulder to press his hand on the mirror, and Eggsy felt his breath catch in his throat. A quiet  _ beep _ rang out, and then a much louder  _ clunk _ , and Eggsy wasn’t entirely sure what was going on but it looked like he was getting  _ shorter _ for some reason-

Eggsy then realised the floor was a lift. 

Harry had continued to speak about something or other, and Eggsy was sure that in the right context he would be very interested in listening to what Harry had to say, but right now his brain was freaking out a little. A fingerprint scanner in a mirror, and a hidden lift? This fuelled all of Eggsy’s James Bond fantasies. He looked around slack-jawed as Harry spoke, watching as the lift seemed to drop them into a never ending abyss. The mirror Eggsy had only just been looking in was now several feet above his head, but the lift showed no signs of stopping.

“How deep does this fucking thing go?” he asked Harry in a moment of quiet.

“Deep enough.”

_ Touche _ .

After around five minutes, the lift slowed down, and stopped at what seemed to be a decrepit tube station. Whilst the tiling and the walls looked old and overgrown, on what would’ve been the other platform there was a very high-tech capsule train. The inside was decorated to look like a cramped version of a posh man’s living room, with tartan seats and small framed paintings on the wall. Harry had already sat down whilst Eggsy was looking around the place, and once he caught Eggsy’s eye, he indicated that Eggsy should sit opposite him. Eggsy’s arse had barely touched the seat before the train shot off.

“Where are we headed, Harry?” Eggsy asked, his knees knocking lightly against Harry’s. “Is there a Kingsman equivalent of Hogwarts?”

“No, Eggsy.” Harry replied, but there was no malice in his voice. “It’s more like boot camp. Come here for a moment.”

Harry tweaked one of the small paintings on the wall, causing a small inlet to appear in the wall. Eggsy leaned forward onto his knees, looking curiously at the nondescript box Harry pulled out of the gap. Harry gave him a small smile, before flicking the clasps and opening it up to reveal-

“A first aid kit?” Eggsy asked disbelievingly. “I didn’t think a first aid kit would go far with the kind of injuries you get as a spy, Harry.”

“You’ll be surprised.” Harry replied, fiddling with a cotton pad. “There’s a lot more desk work than you expect - less bullet wounds, more papercuts. Lean forward, Eggsy.”

Eggsy was about to ask why, but before he’d even made a sound, Harry was a mere few inches from his face, and there was a stinging sensation on his cheek - Harry was carefully cleaning the face wound caused by Dean’s knife. Eggsy shut his mouth with a quiet  _ snap _ , a little confused, but not willing to say anything because having Harry so close… well, it was kind of  _ nice _ . From this proximity, Eggsy could smell Harry’s light aftershave and see every shade of his dark brown eyes…

“So what is training like?” Eggsy asked, trying to stop his thoughts from straying into Milnes and Boone territory. “You’ll be training me, yeah?”

“Unfortunately not, we have a specific trainer for that. I’m afraid you won’t be seeing me much at all during training.” Harry replied, removing the cotton pad from his face and studying his handiwork. From this position, it was impossible for Eggsy to hide the way his face fell at the thought of not seeing Harry for a while. Harry gave him a sympathetic smile, and asked lightly; “You going to miss me Eggsy?”

“I only just started to like you. Who knows how I’m going to get on with your snob friends?”

Harry laughed a little, dropping his hand from Eggsy’s face but not leaning back into his chair. “Don’t you worry. You’ll know I’ll be keeping an eye on you. And you’ll like Merlin, I think - he’s more like you, and he tells me off a lot.”

“That I’d like to see. Is Merlin his real name?”

“It might as well be - we all have code names here, but I don’t think anyone knows Merlin’s real name.”

“Must be something terrible, then.” Eggsy grinned at him, before reluctantly leaning back into his seat, watching Harry do the same thing. “Come on, then - tell me about Kingsman. What’s the best mission you’ve ever been on?”

They spent the rest of the journey idly talking about Kingsman and all manner of different things. By the time they hit their end stop, they were playfully arguing about football - Harry was rather surprisingly very much into the game, and was pretty partial to defending Arsenal from Eggsy’s attack on anything that wasn’t Chelsea. They didn’t stop talking until the pistons on the door became too loud for them to shout over, and once the platform was visible to them, Harry ducked his head out and squinted at a clock on the opposite wall.

“Shit, we’re late.” he grumbled, pulling himself out of his chair. “Come on Eggsy, or Merlin will have both our hides.”

It was another ten minutes before Eggsy met the mysterious Merlin. It took him a while to be dragged away from the window into the Kingsman garage - Eggsy had never seen so many cool and expensive cars and planes in his  _ life.  _ It was only Harry’s offhand comment that they were all under the control of Merlin that got Eggsy moving, now wanting to meet the man that could cow Harry Hart more than ever.

And he did not disappoint. Merlin was a tall man, broad around the shoulders and small around the waist. His shaved head gave him the look of someone not to be trifled with, whilst his glasses gave him just a hint of geekery. Dressed up not in a Kingsman suit, but in a soft wool jumper rolled up to the sleeves, Merlin was exactly what Eggsy was not expecting, and yet Eggsy could well imagine him being able to keep Harry in line.

Eggsy briefly wondered if Kingsmen were hired based partially on their good looks too because  _ seriously _ .

“Galahad. Late again, sir.” Merlin greeted them in a slight scottish brogue, and Eggsy instantly relaxed. He was slightly afraid Merlin was going to be ‘snob-lite’, but with that kind of accent there was  _ no  _ chance.

“My code name.” Harry added, eyeing Eggsy with a little amusement. Eggsy gave Merlin a slight nod. 

“You must be Galahad’s choice-” Merlin consulted his clipboard. “-Eggsy, correct?”

“That’s me, sir.” Eggsy replied. Merlin raised an eyebrow at the added “sir”, but a small smile was playing about his lips.

“Well then, Eggsy. In you go.”

“Good luck.” Harry gave him a smile as Eggsy looked between the two men. Eggsy gave them both brief nods, before pushing through the doors and into the other room. This, he thought to himself, was a turning point. As Harry said, this was an opportunity for him to transform, to move away from his old life. And he was going to take it by the horns.

Eggsy was not going to fuck this one up.

* * *

Although Merlin was one of Eggsy’s kin, that couldn’t be said for the rest of the candidates.

There were eight of them all, and Eggsy was the only one who was not fresh from Oxbridge. The boys made it very clear on the first night what they thought of him, and Eggsy would be lying if he didn’t admit the animosity was mutual at first. The girls weren’t too bad - Roxy was a good sport, and Amelia was nice in a quiet sort of way. But still that night, Eggsy crawled into his standard issue bed and wondered what the fuck he was getting into.

And then, they had to break their way out of a flooded room, and Amelia had died…

After that, they had become some sort of misshapen family. Of course, the ringleader of the posh boys, Charlie, didn’t miss an opportunity to fuck with Eggsy about his parentage or his accent, and the other boys still sniggered. But they became weirdly close during their training in a sibling sort of way - joking around, playing board games in their downtime, throwing out misguided tips… 

Eggsy had walked in once on Nathanial and Roxy attempting to cut Hugo’s hair, and it was at that point he was certain that everyone was going a little stir-crazy.

Eggsy still thought about Harry from time to time. Alright, more like most of the time he was alone and wasn’t thinking of his mum and sister. As a trainee, Eggsy didn’t really have time to speak to Harry much, but he saw him in the corridor’s sometimes, or watching him during a training exercise, and Eggsy was always sure to give him a smile. And Harry made contact in his own little way, in the form of anonymous gifts.

The whole anonymous gift thing started at the gym. Kingsmen were expected to keep in some shape for missions, even if they were mostly grey or desk-bound. Of course, there was a state of the art gym installed on the lower floors, and a gymnastics studio, all of which Eggsy took full advantage of. Eggsy’s saw some of the boys putz about on the weights from time to time, and Merlin had skipping rope skills that could knock a man out (as could the skipping rope handle - a fact which Eggsy knew from personal experience following a class with the man). Eggsy stuck to gymnastics and the treadmill - he found running and rolling were far more useful skills in the training field than lifting weights bigger than his head.

And it seemed his habits had been noted.

He could be doing sprints in on the treadmill, or hitting the floor after Roxy’s sparring got him  _ again _ , and there was always that one thing. It was nothing major - a bottle of water is something everyone needs in the gym. But the difference was that it was  _ iced _ , straight from the bar, and it even had just a touch of strawberry flavouring that made it stick to a parched mouth. Even on the odd occasion Eggsy did remember his sports bottle, there was always another right next door, fresh from the fridge, so cold it nearly scalded Eggsy’s throat as he drunk it.

And after a few weeks, the gifts become more extravagant. Not terribly expensive and over the top, but now he was starting to find random gifts dotted around the dorm room. The arches broke in his trainers after a particularly rough workout, and within a few hours there was a new pair of top-of-the-range running shoes on his bed. He moaned one night about craving chips from a particular chinese takeaway, and he gets home to find the entire dorm setting up said takeaway on the dorm floor, ever so thankful that he convinced Merlin to order it, even though he did no such thing. Even things he didn’t ask for were starting to turn up - his favourite chocolates on his bedside cabinet after a tough day, new pyjamas when his old ones started wearing a hole, even cups of coffee prepared just so left on his bedside table on his early morning wake up calls.

Of course Eggsy knows it’s Harry.

What he doesn’t get is why he’s doing it so often.

Roxy is no help at all - she only remarks rather jealously that  _ she  _ wished she had a sugar daddy, and maybe he should put his Kingsman-honed problem solving skills to the test if he was really all that bothered. It’s not like the other trainees don’t get gifts from time to time from their mentors too - Charlie got a new tie pin from his, and Digby got a pack of jelly babies for his marksman scores - but no-one else seems to be getting as many as him, nor with the same frequency.

Not that Eggsy’s complaining, of course.

It was rather flattering really, he thought to himself one night as he lay in the dormitories one night. Of course he would probably be uncomfortable if Harry suddenly rolled up in a Ferrari with his name emblazoned on the front, but the small things… It was nice to be looked after sometimes, to be treated like someone’s marked. Especially by a well-to-do man like Harry. Who wouldn’t like being looked after by a rich, handsome man who would beat up an entire pub full of people to defend his honour? Especially one who looked  _ hot as fucking hell  _ in a suit...

Eggsy snorted. Now he sounded like someone straight out of  _ My Fair Lady. _ He needed to get out more.

Or get into a cold shower - his body was now deciding it was  _ very  _ interested in Harry in a well-fitting suit.

He rolled over, trapping his growing bulge beneath him as he hit his stomach and pressed his face into the pillow. No matter how late it is, or how close him and the recruits are, the glass bathroom is no place to have a wank. Privacy may no longer be an issue, but Eggsy has never forgotten having to spend half an hour pretending to be asleep whilst one of the boys (he never found out who) jerked off in the shower whilst moaning his name. It did not help that Roxy had been awake at the time and would not let him forget it.

No, he was going to leave Harry do his thing, and he was going to enjoy it whilst it lasted. He shut his eyes and tried to go to sleep.

* * *

The first thing he noticed when he woke up then next morning was the distinct lack of coffee.

The second thing he noticed was a weight at the end of his bed.

The third thing he noticed was that it was  _ far too early _ .

“Don’t tell me this is another test.” Eggsy groaned, throwing his arm across his face. The weight on the end of his bed shifted, and Eggsy heard a slight snort.

“Why  _ Eggy _ , I thought you  _ loved  _ training.” a familiar posh voice replied. Eggsy cracked open an eye to see Charlie sat on the end of his bed. He groaned again and shut his eyes.

“Charlie,  _ what the fuck.  _ It’s like five in the mornin’-”

“Six, actually.”

“It’s our day off! Why the  _ fuck  _ did you wake me up?!”

“...You’re so  _ angry  _ in the morning.”

“Charlie, seriously. Did you wake me up to rub it in my face that you  _ stole  _ my coffee or some shit-”

“Coffee?” There was a strange note in Charlie’s voice. “Why would I steal your bloody coffee?”

“Why would you wake me up at 6 in the morning on my day off?”

“Maybe I just like to  _ piss you off _ -” 

Eggsy shut his eyes and rolled back onto his side with a growl, cutting off whatever Charlie was about to say. “Fuck off, Charlie.” he muttered. “And wake me up when it’s decent out.”

“...Alright,” Charlie clapped his hands to his knees, and the weight on Eggsy’s bed suddenly vanished. “I guess I won’t tell you then. The  _ big  _ news.”

Eggsy bit his lip and refused to rise to the bait.

“It involves your mentor, you know.”

“You don’t know who my mentor is-” Eggsy snapped his jaw shut as soon as he realised he was rising to the bait. He could feel Charlie’s grin from across the room.

“It’s not difficult to guess,” he heard Charlie reply. “Wherever you are, Galahad is only a few feet away.”

“He’s not-”

“He  _ is _ . But that isn’t the point-” There was a slight shuffle. Eggsy opened his eyes to see Charlie leaning against the end of his bed again. “The point is, your mentor went on an assignment yesterday morning-”

“Well, that’s kind of his job.” Eggsy interrupted. Charlie gave him an exasperated look.

“Do you want to hear this or not?”

“Aww, get on with it.”

“Yes. Well. Galahad went on assignment yesterday. It didn’t look like it went too good though.”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw him when I went by the medical bay yesterday-”

“Medical bay? He’s hurt?!” Eggsy tumbled out of bed with a yelp. “What the- is he-”

“I don’t know, I just heard the nurses discussing him.” Charlie shrugged, before wandering back over to his bed and getting into it. 

“Why-” Eggsy stopped talking for a moment as he clumsily shucked himself into his overall. “Why didn’t you tell me this  _ yesterday?! _ ”

“You were too busy drooling on your own pillow.” came Charlie’s muffled reply, his face already buried into his own bedding. Eggsy gave his turned back a repulsive glower.

“Yeah, well thanks for telling me. Eventually.” Eggsy pulled on his boots, decided that lacing them was going to take too much time and marched towards the door. “You’re a right twat Charlie, you know that?”

A loud, fake snore was his only reply.

* * *

The quiet  _ beep-beep-beep  _ of the heart monitor and the gentle whirr of the ventilator was the only sound in the ward when Eggsy entered that morning. It was not hard to find which room Harry was in - it was the one with an engraved sign stating “Harry Hart’s Ward” above the door. Eggsy wondered how often Harry had ended up here to have that put above his door.

The man himself was a sorry sight to behold. Harry was tied up to so many tubes and drains, Eggsy wasn’t entirely sure where one ended and the others began. His neck was in a brace, and a breathing mask attached to his mouth, and in amongst all the machinery Harry Hart looked less the proud man Eggsy knew and more like an old man drowning in his hospital tunic. Eggsy was scared to even touch the man for fear he might break something, and therefore pulled up a chair next to the bed, and got as close as he possibly dared.

He must’ve only been there a few minutes when the door to the ward swung open. He didn’t turn around to acknowledge the person - it was only when he took the seat opposite Eggsy that Eggsy saw it was Merlin.

“Good morning, sir.” Eggsy said quietly.

“You don’t need to call me ‘sir’ here, Eggsy.” Merlin replied. “Just Merlin will do.”

“Alright, Merlin.” He was quiet for a time. “Merlin, what happened to him?”

Merlin sighed. “We really don’t know, Eggsy. He got hit with something, there was probably a blast… but he’s encrypted all his video files, and we can’t get in them without his password.”

“Was he on a mission?”

“Yes. I can’t tell you any more than that-”

“No, no. I get it.” Eggsy chewed on his bottom lip. “It’s a bit like  _ Star Trek _ , isn’t it? Crew member gets hit by unidentified thing, everyone else has to figure out what it’s doing whilst the affected person is knocked out…”

“You watch  _ Star Trek? _ ”

“Yeah. My dad had a load of old videos of them - I used to watch them when I was little.”

“Ah. Your dad was quite the trekkie - he got Harry into it when he was here. And me too, at some point.”

“We should have a marathon.” Eggsy joked. “All three of us, you know?”

“If you get in, we’ll organize it. Harry’s very fond of you - I bet he’d even let you choose the films for once.” Merlin smiled at him. “That’s what your dad and Harry did with their twenty four hours - just watched Star trek films. All Harry’s choice.”

“No  _ way _ .”

“They did. And when your dad died… Harry sat with me, and we watched them all through again.”

Eggsy nodded a little. “That sounds kind of nice.”

“It was. It was the only kind of care Harry would allow me to give him - he doesn’t like being looked after much. You’ll see when he wakes up - he’ll be wandering in places he shouldn’t before you know it.”

“You sound really close.”

“We are. Harry was - and is - my closest friend.”

“Are you-” He indicated to Harry with a curious look on his face. Merlin cracked a smile.

“Not in the way you’re thinking Eggsy. Romance… is not my thing.”

“Oh.” Eggsy nodded in understanding. “So less Kirk and Spock, and more… Spock and Bones?”

Merlin actually laughed at this. “That’s not an unfair comparison to make.” he said, smiling. “God knows how many times we’ve bickered over everything… mostly over the things that got him that sign over the door.”

Eggsy snorted, but it was tinged with a little sadness. He looked down at the still form of Harry, his hand playing with the limp fingers of the older man. 

“He’ll be alright, won’t he Merlin?” he asked quietly. Merlin sighed, before leaning across and patting Eggsy on the shoulder.

“We have to have patience, Eggsy.” he said, equally as quiet. “You just focus on training, alright lad? Make him proud.”

Eggsy only nodded.

* * *

Throughout the next week, Eggsy and Merlin both spent their free time by Harry’s bedside, Eggsy normally reading one of the many books located in the manor, and Merlin tapping away at his tablet-clipboard thing (Eggsy was never sure which one it was at any given time). Sometimes they discussed Kingsman. Sometimes they discussed Harry. On Saturday, Merlin sat by Eggsy and watched  _ Star Trek: The Motion Picture _ together, not bothering with headphones since Harry was the only other person on the ward that evening.

Of course, this had to be the time when Harry woke up. It was quite the surprise for both Eggsy and Merlin to hear the man telling them mid-film that their film choice was terrible and they should pick something else, before falling back asleep.

Harry was up walking around by Wednesday, however. Merlin had grumbled about daft men getting up before they were fully checked out, but Eggsy was just happy the man was no longer drowning in tubes and wires. But since Harry was now awake, Merlin had hurled Eggsy headlong into training to make up for the time that they’d relaxed on, and it wasn’t until Friday that Eggsy could go back down to the ward.

“Ever heard of knocking, Eggsy?” Harry had asked when Eggsy had strolled into the hospital bay. He had his back facing Eggsy, busy finishing his morning shave, wearing a red dressing gown and not much else. Eggsy took a moment to enjoy the view.

“Only when I’m checking out a place to rob.” Eggsy joked to him, leaning up against the bed. “How are you doing?”

“I’m right as rain.” Harry gave his cheeks one last pat, before turning to Eggsy with a smile. His eyes were immediately drawn to Eggsy’s feet - a few days prior, Merlin had given them all a puppy to look after, and Eggsy’s proudly chosen pug sat at his feet. The fact he originally thought it was a bulldog was never going to escape Eggsy’s lips.

“I see Merlin’s introduced you to the puppies.” he said casually. “What did you call yours?”

“J.B.”

“Not after James Bond?” Harry drew a face, and Eggsy laughed.

“Nah, Jack Bauer.” 

“Ah, one of my favourites.” He knelt down, and offered his hand to the small dog, which J.B. happily licked. “I hope his training is going as well as yours - your marks are far beyond anything I ever dreamed.”

“Ta, Harry.” Eggsy grinned. “I’ve been trying hard.”

“I can see that.” Harry gave him a once over, and Eggsy’s grin widened. He spun on one foot, his arms spread wide as he showed himself off.

“Didn’t think I’d get used to this monkey suit,” Eggsy replied, coming back around to face Harry. “but look where I am.”

“Very professional, Eggsy.”

“Mmhmm. Say I don’t get Lancelot, if you ever need a personal assistant…”

Harry laughed. “I’ll be sure to call. You’d look good in my office.”

“And I might get some of your paperwork done - Merlin’s been telling me about chasing you for reports…”

Harry drew a face. “Taking you out of the program and making you my PA is becoming more appealing.”

“Looks like you need one, at any rate.” Eggsy stepped forward until he was in Harry’s personal space. With one hand he ran one finger down Harry’s cheek, before bringing it away and showing Harry the white foam on his finger. “Disposable razor, Harry? Thought you’d be too posh.”

“No-one in Medical would get my personal kit.” Harry replied, looking a little disappointed. “I never got used to disposables.”

Eggsy tutted. “You got a spare? I’ll do the last of it for you. Practice for PA-ing, you know?”

“Of course.” 

There was something rather sensual about shaving Harry’s face, Eggsy decided. Eggsy could feel every bristle, every taut muscle under his thumbs as the razor glided across his skin. Harry himself had his eyes closed, almost purring, and he seemed to respond to Eggsy’s thoughts rather than how he moved his hands. He took his time with shave, memorizing the feel of Harry’s face under his hands, every pore and detail and mark on his cheeks and nose. As he moved the razor away from Harry’s face , the other man opened his eyes, and caught Eggsy in such an intense gaze that Eggsy momentarily froze, his breath catching in his throat. There was a hint of a smile, a hint of warmth, and Eggsy was hardly aware of anything as Harry purposefully stepped a little closer to him, his hand coming to cup the hand Eggsy had on his cheek-

There was a knock at the door. With an impercible sigh, Harry stepped back away from Eggsy, and Eggsy dropped his hand. At Harry’s shouted “come in”, Merlin walked through the door, clipboard in hand. He seemed unsurprised to see Eggsy there, giving him a civil nod as he came to stand beside them.

“Eggsy, Harry,” he greeted. “Harry, shouldn’t you be resting?”

“I’ve been resting for the past  _ week _ .” Harry groused. “I’m perfectly fine.”

Merlin gave Eggsy a look that told him how thoroughly fine he really thought Harry was, but he didn’t say anything to the man himself, instead busying himself with his clipboard.

“I have some things to discuss with you to do with your mission.” He said, bringing something up onto the screen on the opposing wall. “Eggsy, since this is private Kingsman business-”

“Nonsense, Merlin.” Harry interrupted with an indulgent smile. “Let him see - maybe he’ll learn a thing or two.”

“...Alright,” Merlin said, after a brief pause. “Harry, we need the password to your files, to review your mission. You changed it last week, and forgot to tell me. Although I’m not about to say I’m not glad to see the back of ‘gooner2014’-”

“My password was never that!” Harry turned to Eggsy with a smirk. “Merlin’s a Tottenham fan - he’s never forgiven us for beating them so many times-”

“We all know who’s the better team here. Eggsy, surely-”

“Tottenham for sure. Sorry, Harry.”

“Both of you, really? Picking on the sick man here-”

“You’re up and about, can’t be too sick. If you are, maybe you can get back into that bed of yours and write up those reports you still need to do…”

“Ah, now I have a solution to that.” Harry grinned widely. “I’m going to take Eggsy from your program, and he’ll be my PA.”

Merlin snorted. “You’ll have to pry Eggsy from my cold dead hands.”

“Aww, Merlin. Didn’t know you cared.” Eggsy said, nudging the taller man.

“You’ve wormed your way into his cold dead heart, Eggsy.”

“Am I your favourite, Merlin?”

“You’re fast becoming my  _ least  _ favourite.” Merlin muttered, but there was no bite to it. Eggsy and Harry exchanged grins. 

“Aww, you don’t mean that, Merlin.”

“Eggsy’s a fantastic student, he’s one of  _ my  _ favourites.”

“You chose him, you don’t have much choice in favourites, Harry.”

“Nevertheless...”

“If I’m your favourite, can I have mornings off?”

“Eggsy,  _ no _ .”

“Maybe one morning off?”

“Harry, hush.”

“ _ I’d  _ give him a morning off.”

“Aww thanks, Harry.”

“You’d give him a lot of things, Harry, but I am not you.” Merlin rolled his eyes, and tapped at his clipboard decisively. “Now, back to work. Harry, password,  _ now. _ ”

Neither Harry nor Eggsy stopped smiling until Harry’s stream loaded, and then they were hurled back into the world of spies and espionage.

* * *

Since Harry and Eggsy’s tete-a-tete in the hospital bay, Harry had started to become more overt in his affections towards Eggsy. His gifts now included little hand written notes, and he often made sure his path would cross Eggsy’s whenever possible. He started appearing at the end of his training sessions next to Merlin, ready to offer a smile as he tiredly trudged to the changing rooms. Merlin was clearly vexed by Harry’s constant presence, but even he couldn’t bring himself to send the man away. 

Of course, he wouldn’t always be there - Harry’s new mission meant he did still have to spend time doing reconnaissance and wasn’t always available. Eggsy wasn’t entirely sure what it was all about - all he knew was that an entrepreneur named Richmond Valentinw was putting explosives in people’s heads, and no-one was entirely sure why. But it sounded important, and so Eggsy wasn’t so disappointed when he would not see Harry for days on end.

Time rolled on, and the other candidates peeled off one by one. The dorm room was now almost completely empty - only he, Roxy and Charlie slept there anymore. And then over the weekend, Charlie was too picked off - apparently the way to get him to spill his guts was to stick him in front of a speeding train. Eggsy himself was particularly proud that he’d beaten him to be in the top two. Harry had been too, judging by the way he had gotten very up close and personal when untying him from the tracks. And then Merlin had revealed they could spend twenty four whole hours with their mentors...

Eggsy knew something momentous would happen between him and Harry that night.

Harry had been a perfect gentleman all evening. With J.B. sequestered with Merlin for the night, they had gone out for dinner that evening, at a very good restaurant Eggsy would not have dreamed of entering before his induction at Kingsman. Harry wined him and dined him, and taught him what all the extra knives and forks mean next to his plate. But by the end of the night nothing is serious and they’re both flushed and laughing, the wine bottle they shared completely empty.

“Drinks?” Harry had asked as they ambled back to his house. Eggsy grinned in response, and raced into the dining room, sitting himself up on the table and swinging his legs like an excited schoolboy. Harry rolled his eyes and muttered something about having chairs for a reason, but he smiled as he said it, and didn’t push Eggsy off.

“Now watch me very closely.” Harry told him. “I am going to show you how to make a  _ proper  _ martini.”

“ _ Yes _ , Harry.” Eggsy replied, grinning fit to bust. Harry gave him an amused look.

“First things first,” he said, heading towards the bar in the corner. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Harry carefully peeled off his suit jacket, and the sight alone made Eggsy’s grin drop into a very shocked ‘o’. Harry had evidently planned this - the shirt he was wearing was tight and fitted and nearly translucent, and glided over his broad shoulders in a way Eggsy had never seen on Harry before. The braces he wore created the perfect contrast with his white shirt, and only highlighted the skin barely visible underneath. Harry rolled his cuffs up to his elbows, and at that point Eggsy knew he was lost.

“Step two,” Harry murmured, his voice sounding a little husky. “ice, and a good vodka.”

He bends down into the chilled cupboard, which gave Eggsy plenty of time to watch how Harry’s tighter than usual trousers hug his behind. Eggsy’s legs parted subconsciously, and he propped his elbows on his knees, leaning forward to rest his head on an upturned fist. Harry straightened up, hands full with with ice, vodka, vermouth, glasses and a glass jar, setting it all on the bar. He makes quick work of measuring up - a cap of vermouth, two shots of vodka, a jar full of ice.

“The ice goes first, then the vermouth, then the vodka. Stir for ten seconds, whilst glancing at an unopened- unopened, that’s very important! - bottle of vermouth…”

Harry’s voice had dropped to a baritone note, causing a familiar warm heaviness to spread through Eggsy’s limbs. The slight tap of the spoon against the side of the martini tumblr that Harry was stirring was the only sound in the room besides Eggsy’s slightly laboured breathing. Harry’s face was angled towards the bottle of vermouth mounted on the wall beside the bar, but Eggsy had the distinct feeling the bottle wasn’t what held his attention. The transparent liquid fell from the jar in a glittering ark into the martini glass, glittering and reflecting the candlelight like liquid silver. The smooth drink reflected the light like glitter on the side of Harry’s face as the man walked back over to Eggsy, drink in hand, and took the seat in front of him, nestling himself between Eggsy’s parted legs.

“ _ Bon appetit, _ Eggsy.” Harry murmured, proffering the glass with a slight smile. Eggsy’s fingers brushed Harry’s as he took the martini and gave it a swig. The burn of alcohol did nothing to numb the burning fire that was smouldering in his belly - in fact, it just fed the growing flames. Eggsy took the glass away from his lips and put it on the table, a few drops of martini lingering on his lips like gloss. A thumb came up to wipe the errant beads of alcohol away, and then lingered at the corner of Eggsy’s mouth, the rest of the hand coming to cup his cheek. Eggsy leaned the fevered skin of his face into the cool palm.

“Good?” Harry asked, his eyes blown wide and lips parted, all trace of gentlemanly reserve gone.

“Perfect.” Eggsy murmured, and the husk of his voice seemed to break what little self control Harry had. He leant upwards, and Eggsy leant down to meet him in a brush of lips. It was soft at first, a simple meeting of mouths, but soon the heat and wetness of their mouths came into play and they simply melted into each other. Eggsy’s hands came to run through Harry’s hair, delighting in the fact that it was as soft as it looked. He tugged on it lightly when Harry began to nip and nibble at his lips with his teeth, loving the groan that escaped the other man’s mouth. Harry’s hands drifted down from his face and rested on his knees, the broad thumbs working circles into his thighs, so close to Eggsy’s crotch, which was becoming tighter and tighter as the kissed, and Eggsy moaned into Harry’s mouth, pushing his legs into Harry’s grasp, wanting for those hands to be closer, needing them to be closer, he needed-

He needed…

He needed to stop.

Eggsy broke off the kiss, panting hard. Harry was similarly affected, eyes now closed but hair a wild muss from where Eggsy’s fingers had been carding through it. Pressing his forehead to Harry’s, Eggsy let his hands drop from Harry’s hair to hang loosely around the other man’s neck, and tried to control his breathing.

“Harry…”

Harry’s thumbs stilled at the slightly conflicted tone to Eggsy’s voice. He opened his eyes and caught Eggsy’s gaze. The open affection in Harry’s eyes was overwhelming, and Eggsy had to shut his eyes and avert his gaze.

“Harry, I… we… we  _ can’t _ .” There was silence, before an imperceivable sigh slipped from Harry’s lips. He pulled back, his hands sliding down Eggsy’s thighs, but he didn’t get very far - Eggsy dropped his hands from Harry’s neck quick as a flash and grabbed Harry’s hands, pinning them to his knees.

“Eggsy?” Harry asked, when no other words were forthcoming. Eggsy shook his head.

“I just… you don’t know how much I want this- because I really do, ever since I first saw you fight in that pub, I swear, but-”

“You’re not ready? Eggsy, I’m not going to judge you on that-”

“It’s not that! I’d fuck you on the sofa given half a chance-”

“I don’t think my back would be too pleased with that, but I wouldn’t complain.”

Eggsy laughed, but it came out more miserable than funny. “It’s just… Harry, I…”

“What is it?”

“I… I haven’t got a soul mark yet.” And there it was. Now Harry was going to leave, and look at him with pity, and refuse to come near him, and-

“I don’t care.”

“ _ What?!”  _ Eggsy’s eyes snapped wide open and stared down at Harry. Harry stared back, his eyes still full of that warm affection, and his mouth curled into a small smile. He gave Eggsy’s knees a slow, reassuring squeeze.

“I don’t care.” Harry repeated. “I don’t care that you haven’t gotten yours yet.”

“But… but  _ how?  _ How can you not care?”

“Is it really that important to you?”

“Yes! No! I don’t know!”

“Very precise, Eggsy.”

“Oh, shut up. You know what I mean.”

“I really don’t. What does the mark mean to you?”

“I just… it just… it seems like something important. Something to aim for. And I don’t want to get involved with you only to find out that I’ve been going in the wrong direction. It’s not fair on you - you deserve someone better-”

“No.” Harry interrupted, shaking his head. “Don’t say that. You aren’t worse than anyone without a mark.”

“You’ll be surprised how many people say otherwise.”

“Eggsy, you are just  _ fine _ the way you are. Seriously. There is nothing wrong with you.”

“Then why am I always pitied for not having one?”

“Because people are weirdly fixated on things that are none of their business. They still tell me the same things when they find out I haven’t got one either.”

“You haven’t…?” Eggsy looked at Harry in surprise. “You didn’t get one or…?”

“I did get one, but it was… removed. A Kingsman accident.” Harry pulled his hands from Eggsy’s legs, and for one horrible moment Eggsy thought he’d hit a nerve and Harry was leaving. But he did not - Harry only leant back in his seat, and tugged his braces off his shoulders. He unwound his tie, and carefully undid the buttons of his shirt, before pulling it apart and revealing the expanse of his chest.

“Harry…” Eggsy could see immediately where the name had been. In amongst Harry’s curly dark brown chest hair, there lay a strip of bare skin, mottled and lumpy and completely hairless. Eggsy very nearly reached out for it, but he stilled his hand before he touched, not entirely certain whether that would be permissible. He was itching to ask how it had happened too, but even he knew that was a pretty personal question to ask, and he held his tongue.

“Does it hurt?” he asked instead, tearing his eyes away to look at Harry in the eye.

“Only in cold weather.” Harry seemed to be able to read his mind on what question he wanted to ask, and gave him a slightly sadder smile. “I was caught on a mission. My mark had only just started to come through - my captor thought I would tell him about my mission if he cut it out.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t?”

“Of course not. But in the Recovery unit… there were days I wished I had.”

“Oh, Harry…” Unable to think of any other way to comfort the older man, Eggsy leant forward and wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck. He felt Harry’s arms settle lightly on his hips, the thumbs rubbing slow circles into his hip bones.

“It’s alright.” Harry murmured quietly in his ear. “I’ve stopped thinking that way now. I won’t ever know who it was. Kind of… freeing in a way.”

“How come?” Eggsy replied just as quietly. “Don’t you feel lost without it?”

“No.” Harry paused for a moment, before leaning back in the embrace to look Eggsy full in the eye. “Not anymore.”

And then Harry’s lips were on his again, and this time Eggsy had no plans to break it off. Their lips moved and slid against each other, Eggsy’s chapped ones catching a little against Harry’s smooth, pliant ones. A tongue came and swiped along Eggsy’s bottom lip, and he opened his mouth a little. The intrinsic taste of Harry mixed with the remnants of gin on his tongue, creating a heady mix of tastes that made Eggsy’s head spin. He broke off the kiss to get his breath back, but Harry merely moved his kisses to his jaw, and down his neck, pausing briefly to suckle on his pulse point. Eggsy let out a breathy moan at the contact.

“Like that?” Harry asked, as if he didn’t already know the answer. Eggsy gave a disapproving moan at the pause in neck kisses, and pulled himself off the table and neatly into Harry’s lap. Harry gave a startled laugh at the unexpected weight, but he was soon silenced by Eggsy’s hands in his hair and Eggsy’s tongue and lips descending on his own. Harry let his own hands drift from Eggsy’s hips to his lower back, then dropping down to cup Eggsy’s backside. He gave it a firm squeeze, smiling into Eggsy’s lips when the other man gave a particularly manly squeak. Eggsy nipped hard at his bottom lip for his troubles.

“Bed?” Harry finally asked, breaking off the kiss with a slight  _ smack  _ to Eggsy’s arse.

“Could take you on the table, Harry.” Eggsy mumbled in reply, ducking his head and nuzzling at Harry’s neck. Harry laughed lightly, before hooking his hands more firmly under Eggsy’s arse and lifting himself up out of the chair. Eggsy gave another startled squeak, scrambling to wrap his legs more firmly around Harry’s waist as Harry carried him out of the dining room, up the stairs, and across the hall into the bedroom. The bedroom was just as lavishly adorned as the rest of the house - not as if Eggsy had time to admire it as he was unceremoniously dropped onto the soft cotton duvet that was draped over Harry’s kingsized bed.

“Bit of warning would’ve been nice, bruv.” Eggsy complained as Harry pressed him  down into the bed and climbed on top of him. Harry gave him one of his trademark ‘butter wouldn’t melt’ smiles and laughed a little, before attacking his neck with his lips and teeth. Eggsy’s indignation at being manhandled to bed was soon forgotten as Harry teased and nibbled at the skin of his neck, before opening the top buttons of his shirt and nibbling at his collarbones. Eggsy managed to tug off Harry’s shirt as he worked, the cufflinks bouncing off the bed in a shower of gold.

His hands immediately got to work mapping Harry’s chest, fingers sifting through wired chest hair and tugging on puffy, half-pebbled nipples. Harry groaned at his ministrations, his own attentions at Eggsy’s collar becoming wetter with the inclusion of languid licks. One of his hands made it’s way to Eggsy’s waistband and untucked his shirt, and Harry reluctantly left Eggsy’s collarbone to lean back and lift his shirt up. Harry was back with his lips and teeth against the finer hair of Eggsy’s chest as Eggsy struggled to pull his shirt up and over his head and toss it onto the floor beside the other clothes.

Bare chested at last, Eggsy pulled Harry up to kiss him desperately on the mouth. Chest to chest, their skin warmed the air around them like a furnace, their skin flushed and red as they pressed ever closer. Someone’s hands were fiddling with his belt buckle, and Eggsy was no longer sure whose body was whose but he endeavoured to help the wandering hands, kicking off his trainers and socks. He felt Harry murmur approval into his mouth, and the telltale sound of an unzipped fly, and then the pressure is his groin was suddenly released as Harry drew his cock out of the keyhole of his boxer-briefs and into the space between their sweaty bodies. Eggsy was a little on the small side, so Harry’s hand was able to wrap around it completely, encasing it in a tight heated channel.

Eggsy writhed against the bedsheets as Harry leant over to the bedside cabinet to retrieve a bottle of lube. He squirted some of it into his palm, warmed it a little, before he reached down, and took Eggsy’s cock in his hand. A wanton whine escaped Eggsy’s lips, and he threw his head back into the cushions, his mouth open and panting. Harry kissed and nibbled at the taught muscles in Eggsy’s neck as he worked his cock in his hand. Eggsy rolled his hips, trying to get Harry to go just a little faster, and moaning when he felt Harry smile against his neck and purposefully slow down.

“Need you  _ now _ , Harry.” he whined, rocking his lower body against Harry’s palm. Harry only kissed his mouth gently, not even letting Eggsy get his tongue involved, before he let his hand drift down to cup his balls, then further downwards to circle Eggsy’s entrance with a lubed finger. He circled and massaged the tight ring of muscle, pressing and rubbing with a well practiced hand. By the time he reached across for more lube, Eggsy was babbling incoherently, his body trying to press ever closer to Harry’s wandering hand. He slicked up his fingers, before returning to Eggsy’s entrance and pressing the lubed digit into the warm heat.

”Fuck, Harry! Yes!” Eggsy’s back arched up, his hands scrabbling for purchase against Harry’s back. Harry moved his fingers in quick thrusts, stretching Eggsy and causing him to grind down against the finger. He soon replaced it with two fingers, crooking and twisting them inside Eggsy’s arse, looking for that sweet spot that would drive Eggsy wild. He knew he had found it when Eggsy let out a long keening whine, and began frantically rolling his hips, attempting to have that sweet spot hit again. Harry moved his fingers in time to Eggsy’s frantic motions, being sure to hit his prostate with every thrust, revelling in the positively indecent moans escaping Eggsy’s mouth. Eggsy’s cock was leaking all over Eggsy’s stomach, and Harry knew he was close. He removed his fingers from Eggsy’s arse and wrapped them around Eggsy’s cock, jerking it once, twice, and then Eggsy was coming with a strangled scream, his spunk splattering up his stomach.

“Good?” Harry murmured, kissing Eggsy’s slack jaw lightly. Eggsy turned his head to catch Harry’s mouth in a lazy kiss, his tongue and lips slow and languid after his orgasm.

“Fucking fantastic.” he replied, his words slurring a little on his lips. His hands wandered across Harry’s body, lazily circling muscle lines and old scars. They drifted across his chest hair, and Harry could not help but hiss as they drifted across his over-sensitive nipples. Eggsy smirked up at him.

“Turn over.”

Harry rolled onto his back, and tucked his arms beneath his head. Eggsy made quick work of Harry’s shoes and trousers, stripping him until he too was clad only in his pants. Eggsy swung his legs up and over so he sat across Harry’s legs, taking a brief moment to tuck himself back in, before his hands were roaming the expanse of Harry’s soft stomach and the obvious tent in his satin boxer shorts. Eggsy’s thumb rubbed against the wet spot where Harry’s erect cock was leaking pre cum, causing Harry to roll his hips into the touch.

“Mmm…” Harry’s eyes fluttered shut as Eggsy drew his cock out from his boxer shorts. Harry’s cock was bigger than Eggsy’s, and Eggsy had to use both of his small hands to fist around it. Eggsy grabbed the lube from the bed sheets, before squirting some on his palm. He didn’t bother warming it up, instead taking great delight in the surprise shout and the hardening of the flesh between his palms as he smoothed the cool lubricant over his heated skin.

There was no teasing preamble to Eggsy’s work - he pumped Harry’s cock between his palms hard and fast, with the enthusiasm of a puppy. He dipped his head and traced pattern upon pattern on Harry’s taught abdomen with his tongue, feeling every groan escaping Harry’s mouth vibrate up his tongue. Harry himself was lost, his fingers clenching and unclenching the pillow beneath his head, his head thrown back, his chest and abdomen rising beneath Eggsy’s mouth as his back arched, his hips grinding, his muscles tensing, his toes curling-

Harry came with a startled cry, Eggsy’s name upon his lips. His come splattered up his stomach to Eggsy’s waiting tongue, who licked the pearly white droplets as if they were the last crumbs on a dinner plate. Eggsy’s hands slowly dropped their frenzied pace, and came to rest on Harry’s hip bones. He looked up at Harry, and gave him a bright grin, his lips plush and wet and swollen from their shared kisses, his hair a tousled mess and his eyes shining brighter than diamonds. Harry could not help but give him a fond smile in return, before leaning up and kissing the bright smile off his face. They kissed for a while, until Eggsy was lying by his side, his eyes now drooping with sleepiness. Harry reached over to the bedside cabinet, managing to retrieve a wet wipe without too much fuss, and began cleaning the both of them up.

“Thought you’d be too posh to have wet wipes, Harry.” Eggsy murmured, watching him with a lazy smile.

“They have their uses.” Harry replied, tossing the dirtied wipe over the side of the bed in the general direction of the bin. “Of course, nothing beats a hot flannel, but when one cannot walk to the bathroom…”

“I was that good, huh?”

“Don’t let it get to your head.” Eggsy laughed, and then yawned. He blinked owlishly at Harry’s fond expression, then laughed again when Harry gave him a very theatrical eyeroll.

“Go to sleep, Eggsy.”

And Eggsy did.

* * *

Eggsy should’ve expected that Harry would be a perfect gentleman the morning after. They had lounged in bed for half of it, too cozy and comfortable to be doing much else. And then after a lingering, shared shower, Harry had made him brunch with all his favourites - bacon, buttered baps, scrambled eggs and grilled tomatoes all made their way onto his plate and later to his stomach. It seemed Harry planned to spend the entire day spoiling him, and Eggsy was going to enjoy every minute of it.

“I wish you’d tell me where we were going, Harry.” Eggsy whined as he and Harry sat in the back of a Kingsman cab. 

“We’re going to get something every modern gentleman needs.” Harry replied airily. “You should figure it out yourself.”

“Or you could tell me.” Eggsy let his head  _ flump  _ into Harry’s shoulder, pouting. Harry seemed to freeze for a moment, before looked down and gave Eggsy a soft smile.

“Pouting isn't going to make me tell you any sooner.” he said, running his thumb across Eggsy’s protruding lip. Eggsy scowled playfully at him, before pressing closer and shutting his eyes, He felt Harry laugh a little beside him, before his hands were taken in palms far larger than his own. In the soft sway of the taxi, and with the solidity of Harry’s warm body next to him, Eggsy found himself drifting into a kind of half sleep, aware of his surroundings but letting the details slip through his fingers. 

“We’re here, Eggsy.” Harry murmured in his ear, after what seemed like a few minutes. Eggsy lifted his head and squinted out of the window.

“We’re at the shop?” Eggsy asked, looking suspiciously up at the familiar suited mannequins in the shop front. “You doing the Kingsman equivalent of walking me home, Harry?”

“Nonsense,” Harry said breezily. “We’ve still got eight hours yet.”

“Then what we doing here?”

“Guess.”

“ _ Harry. _ ”

“Yes?”

Eggsy let out a puff of air. “Where am I supposed to start guessing? Kingsman’s  _ massive _ . It could be anything.”

“Well, I’ll give you a clue.” Harry began running his fingers through Eggsy’s hair. “It had to do with the store front. And it’s far more obvious than you think.”

Eggsy gave him a look, before leaning over Harry’s lap to look at the storefront. It was the same as it had always been - smoking jackets in the window, watches on the floor, fancy gold writing on the window. Perhaps there was a hidden door in the window…? No, Harry had said it was obvious. He should be able to see it, Harry would not say it was obvious unless it actually was, but there was really nothing that stood out in the window except those mannequins-

_ Oh. _

Eggsy’s eyes went as wide as saucers.

“You’re going to buy me a Kingsman suit?” Eggsy’s voice had dropped into a breathy whisper.

“A suit is the modern gentleman’s armour. I think it’s time.” Harry gave Eggsy a small, fond smile. Eggsy grinned back at him, already giddy from the thought of having his own fancy suit.

“I haven’t ever had a suit before.” Eggsy said wondrously. “Well, not a nice one. You’re totally spoiling me, Harry - you’ll be my sugar daddy if you keep it up.”

“I like to see you cared for.” Harry protested weakly. “Is that such a crime?”

“Of course not…” Eggsy’s grin turned cheeky as he leant up and pressed a kiss to the corner of Harry’s mouth. “... _ daddy _ .”

“...I’m going to be stuck with that for some time, aren’t I?” 

“Maybe. But in all seriousness-” Eggsy leant up and gave Harry a proper, searching kiss on his lips. “-thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” Harry said once the kiss had broken. He offered Eggsy a half quirk of his lips. “Only the best will do for  _ Daddy’s  _ boy, hmm?”

A startled laugh escaped Eggsy’s mouth before he could stop it. Harry gave him a raised eyebrow, before climbing out of the car, and holding the door open. Eggsy could not stop smiling as he entered the shop, and he was immediately looking at the reams of cloth that studded the wall, feeling simultaneously both excited and overwhelmed.

“Kingsman suits are perfectly suited for the field.” Harry murmured, sliding up behind him. “The seams are elastic, and the material is kevlar - flexible and also bullet proof.”

“Wicked.” Eggsy murmured, already imagining wearing one. “What colour do you think I should get?”

“Navy, I think.” Harry reached out and tugged at the corner of a navy pinstripe ream. “This one?”

“Looks good, Harry.”

“Good. Now, if you’ll step into the fitting room…” The two of them headed towards the fitting room, passing by the old shopkeeper. Harry had barely touched the door handle before the shopkeeper cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the man said in a slightly nasal voice. “Another gentleman is being fitted in fitting room one. Fitting room two is available?”

“No,” Harry said, frowning and shaking his head. “One does not pop his cherry in fitting room two.”

Eggsy had to quickly muffle his snickers behind his hand. Harry gave him an innocent smile, whilst the shopkeeper hid his own smile by turning away from them both.

“Maybe I’ll show you fitting room three…” Harry was silent for a few moments, before he headed towards a door opposite the room he just tried to get in. Eggsy followed him into the small box room without question, and positioned himself in front of the mirror expectantly.

“Are we going up or down?” he asked Harry.

“Neither.” Harry replied with a smile. Eggsy was quiet, expecting Harry to elaborate. But Harry too remained silent, holding the straightest poker face Eggsy had ever seen in his life. Eggsy frowned at his reflection.

"Is this it?" Eggsy asked, raised his eyebrow in an incredibly suggestive manner. Harry rolled his eyes and gave him a slight swat to the behind.

"Of course not. Pull the hook on your left."

Eggsy wasn’t entirely certain what he was expecting, but the  _ coolest room in the entire complex  _ was not it. The hook opened the door to the weapons room - essentially a large walk in wardrobe filled to the ceiling with tech and guns of all kinds. Massive rifles and various umbrella’s lined one wall, whilst the latest tablets and smartphones lined another. There were darts, pens, rings, keyrings, cigarette cases… it was like walking into a video game weapons cache.

“Ah yes,” Eggsy said, giving Harry a lazy grin. “Very,  _ very  _ nice.”

Harry smiled at him, before leading him over to one of the panels. Here there row upon row of shoes of various styles, and next to them were rows of pistols and cartridges, followed by two kinds of pen, signet rings and flashlights.

“You’ll need a pair of shoes to go with your suit.” Harry told him, pointing at a certain pair on the wall. “An oxford is any formal shoe with open lacing - the decorative detail is broguing.”

“Oxfords not brogues.” Eggsy murmured, feeling like something had finally slotted into place. Harry gave him a proud smile.

“Words to live by, Eggsy. Words to live by. Try this pair for size.” He handed Eggsy a pair of plain Oxfords. They were extraordinarily comfortable, far more comfortable than any formal shoe Eggsy had worn before. As Eggsy wiggled his toes and tested the comfort of the shoe, Harry wandered off, and began talking about the other tech in the room.

“The rainmaker, you already know about.” he began, indicating to the umbrella with a flick of his wrist, before moving on to the wall of pistols. “These are standard issue Kingsman pistols - you’ll see they’ve been modified to hold a shotgun cartridge for messy, close range situations.”

“Not entirely sure I want to be close when that thing goes off.” Eggsy commented. “Recoil on it must be horrid.”

“The recoil makes it rather unwieldy to use when facing multiple foes.” Harry agreed. “You will be put at risk if you use it in that situation. And since a Kingsman only condones the risking of one life to save another… How do your shoes feel?”

Eggsy blinked at the sudden change of topic, but he recovered and replied; “Yeah, they’re good.”

“Excellent.” Harry turned to face him fully. “Now give me your very best impression of a German aristocrat formal greeting.”

Eggsy slowly got up, and after a moment’s thought, did a Nazi salute.

“Eggsy,  _ no. _ ” At Eggsy’s confused look, Harry drew himself up straight, and clicked his heels together. There was a slight  _ snick _ , and then Eggsy noticed the rather deadly looking blade coming out of Harry’s toes.

“That is  _ sick _ .” Eggsy said, grinning as he copied Harry. “‘There’s no place like home’, right?”

“It’s a little  _ Wizard of Oz _ , I admit.”

“How do you get it back in?”

“It’s covered in one of the fastest-acting neurotoxins known to man, so  _ very  _ carefully.” Harry showed Eggsy how to press the blade back in, before moving onto the pens. He pointed at a black and silver fountain pen. “Now this… I’ve had a lot of fun with this.”

“What is it?”

“Poison. Harmless when ingested, but at a time convenient to you…” He flicked the pen clip. “Primed, and then.” He pushed the clip back down. “Lethal.”

“ _ Wicked _ .”

"Quite. Not to be confused with this one-" Harry showed him another pen, this one a navy and gold ballpoint. He flicked the pen clip, and from the tip came a viscous gel, a gel Eggsy instantly recognised.

"Lube?" he asked incredulously. "Your tech department came up with a pen that spits lube?"

"Useful in unsticking doors and ladies' purses." Harry replied breezily. "Amongst other things."

"Mmhmm." Eggsy gave him a disbelieving look.

"Moving onto more… physical instruments..." Harry browsed the shelves before pulling out a nondescript flashlight.

"Does this double as a dildo, Harry?" Eggsy asked cheekily. Harry ignored him.

"Look here - this is a powerful set of LED bulbs. Blind your attacker with the light, and hit him into unconsciousness with the window breaker on the other side. And in high pressure, interrogation situations..." Harry unscrewed the light part of the torch and showed Eggsy the inside. Eggsy had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"A fleshlight in a flashlight." he said faintly.

"Merlin's brainchild, I believe."

"Merlin is one kinky motherfucker."

Harry laughed. “He’s... very aware of the efficacy of sex. Or rather, blue balls.”

Eggsy laughed. He ran his fingers over the display, his nails dragging across the grips of the guns and the clips of ammo. He could imagine himself using these now - he could imagine rolling into a mission armed to the teeth, Merlin in his ear whispering about the target, finishing the mission successfully, going home and debriefing with Harry… Before, he’d never truly believed he could make it. And now, one of the final two, and Harry so confident in him that he was ordering him a suit early...

It made everything more real, somehow.

“What’s this, then?” Eggsy asked, picking up what seemed to be a cigarette lighter. “A vibrator?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Eggsy raised an eyebrow at him. Harry smiled.

“It’s a hand grenade.”

Jesus  _ Christ. _

* * *

The charming shopping date was unfortunately cut short - duty called for Harry, and he left Eggsy to his own devices, pressing a lingering kiss to his cheek as a parting gift. Eggsy was measured for his suit, and when asked for his choice in design, he specifically asked for one like Harry’s. And then, with his order in full sway and his twenty-four hours over, Eggsy skipped back to HQ with a slightly bittersweet feeling in his chest.

“Eggsy,” Merlin had called to him as he entered the building. “Sorry to cut your day off short.”

“It’s no problem, Merlin.” Eggsy replied brightly. “Duty calls and all that.”

Merlin gave him a smile and a nod. “Did you enjoy your time with Harry?”

“Of course.”

“Let me guess, he wined you, dined you, and spent the rest of this morning spoiling you?” Eggsy’s eyes widened a fraction.

“How did you-”

“Harry’s been talking about today for  _ ever _ . Really, he wouldn’t shut up about it. I’m glad he finally got you cause now he doesn’t have to talk to me about it all the time.”

Eggsy laughed. “Ah, Merlin. Never change, please. I’ll have Harry’s sappy personality and you can have our dogs and jumpers. Speaking of which, how is JB?”

“He was fine - you trained him well. He’s currently up with Arthur - which reminds me, he wants to have a word with you.”

“Arthur wants a word? With me?” Eggsy had never spoken to the man in his life.

“Yes. His study’s on the top floor, second right.” 

Eggsy nodded, and walked past Merlin, taking the stairs two at a time. Before he could go completely out of sight, he heard Merlin calling up to him from the bottom of the stairs.

“Eggsy?”

He doubled back.

“Yes?”

“Good luck.”

“Good luck?” But Merlin was gone, and Eggsy was left to climb the rest of the stairs in a slight state of confusion. 

It was not difficult to locate Arthur’s office - the heavy wooden door was inlet with gold, and his name was inscribed on a highly decorative panel beside. The outside was a good indicator of the inside - Arthur’s study was resplendent in such a way that made it rather ridiculous. It seemed that everything expensive Kingsman had ever held onto had been shoved on shelves and in cabinets and bureaus. A mahogany desk, polished within an inch of its life, was sat in the far corner, overlooked by the stuffed head of a stag which was mounted on the wall behind. Two overstuffed chairs sat in front of a large fireplace - one was taken by an older gentleman, who Eggsy assumed was Arthur, who was feeding something to JB who sat patiently on the rug. 

“Ah, Eggsy.” the man proclaimed, giving him a slight smile. His nickname felt strange rolling off Arthur’s tongue, but Eggsy only smiled a little and shook his hand.

“You must be Arthur.”

“Correct. Please, take a seat.” Eggsy sat in the chair opposite Arthur. JB trotted up to him and gave him a few welcoming licks.

“He’s a pretty dog, that one,” Arthur said once Eggsy and JB had settled. “Merlin never told me its name.”

“Oh, JB.” Eggsy smiled, giving the dog a quick scratch behind his ears.

“As in James Bond?”

“No, no. Jack Bauer?”

“Ah! Bravo, that’s a clever one. You’re a lot smarter than I thought, Eggsy.”

His tone of voice grated on Eggsy’s last nerve, but he smiled politely and didn’t reply. Arthur raised an eyebrow.

“We don’t expect much of boys like you, admittedly. Perhaps it is your lack of a mark, allowing you to focus on less… carnal things in life.”

Oh, he  _ really _ did not like this man. He was itching to know how Arthur knew about his marklessness, but he remained silent. It seemed to annoy him more.

“It pains me to admit,” he continued, side eying Eggsy’s lack of a response. “but you might just be as good a spy as the rest of them. Which means...”

Eggsy had no idea the old man could move so fast. One minute he was smiling, the other glowering, with the business end of a pistol pointed straight at Eggsy’s forehead. Eggsy had to give himself kudos for managing to hold the straightest polite poker face even with the gun pointed at his head. He saw the corners of Arthur’s mouth droop a little - evidently he was expecting more of a reaction.

“Here,” Arthur smiled a sickly sweet smile, flipping the gun around his finger to hand to Eggsy. Eggsy took it from him, the metal feeling hefty in his hands. It was loaded.

“Take off the safety.” Arthur said quietly, no longer smiling.

Eggsy took off the safety.

“Load the chamber.”

Eggsy pulled the slide back, and pushed it back in with a click.

“Shoot the dog.”

Eggsy aimed at JB. The innocent dog lolled it’s tongue, patient and quiet. Eggsy’s finger twitched on the trigger, but didn’t fire. He couldn’t fire. He  _ shouldn’t  _ fire - no, Arthur had no right to ask this of him! What was it that Harry said earlier about never taking a life unless it saved another? Shooting JB would not save anyone, so therefore…

Eggsy pointed the gun at Arthur, and took a little pleasure in the resulting flinch before he rolled the pistol around his finger and handed it back.

“A Kingsman only condones the risking of one life to save another.” Eggsy said quietly. “No can do, bruv.”

“A Kingsman also follows orders no matter the personal cost.” Arthur replied, his mouth curling up into a smirk as he took the gun back. “I knew you couldn’t do it. Get out.”

Eggsy froze for a minute, before he went completely into auto-pilot and drove himself out the door. JB skipped beside him as he piloted himself down several flights of stairs, giving worried snuffles and looks from time to time, but Eggsy ignored him, his mind numb with shock. He’d done what he thought was right. He’d done what Harry and Merlin had taught him, and he still fucked up. 

Where had he gone wrong this time?

As Eggsy reached the front doors, the crack of a gunshot being fired echoed around the building. Instinctively Eggsy knew Roxy had passed the test, and there was no chance of him ever getting the job at Kingsman. For the first time since leaving Arthur’s office, Eggsy felt the first tendrils of anger crawl up his spine. The posh bastards had planned for this to happen - Harry had chosen him to bring new blood into Kingsman, and Kingsman had opted to do all it could to throw him out, even going and changing the rules at the last hurdle.

_ Well, fuck Kingsman _ , Eggsy thought to himself as he made his way down the outside stairs.  _ And more importantly, fuck Arthur _ .

He gave a savage kick to one of the Kingsman cabs as he passed it by. Surprisingly it didn’t sound an alarm, so Eggsy doubled back to look it over one last time. He was sure they had alarms, he’d seen an alarm button on the dash when Harry and he went to the store that very morning… Eggsy looked around it, and very quickly found the source of the problem - the keys sat in the ignition. Struck by a sudden idea, Eggsy quickly put JB in the front of the car and climbed into the driver’s seat. It was almost child’s play to drive the car off Kingsman property and onto the main road, and Eggsy could not help but smile a little sourly to himself.

_ Fuck Kingsman. _

* * *

It had taken surprisingly long for Kingsman to come and get him.

They’d very lovingly let him see his family first. Daisy had been inordinately impressed with his brand new dog rather than him, but his mum was happy to see him. Eggsy wasn’t quite so happy to see her - her black eye and her protestations that ‘she deserved it’ and ‘don’t go after him  _ please _ ’ was not exactly the welcome back gift he’d particularly wanted. Nor was the self-driving taxi that decided to drive itself away when he tried to challenge Dean.

Eggsy was almost completely sure Harry had planned that on purpose, the bastard.

Speaking of whom, the man himself did not look best pleased as he drove the car into his own driveway. Eggsy wasn’t best pleased to see him either, and the sight of him sat in the car with his arms folded only served to deepen Harry’s frown. Feeling a touch like a peluntant child, Eggsy clambered out of the car and went inside, waiting for Harry at the base of the stairs.

“You throw away your biggest opportunity over a fucking dog.” Harry’s voice was harsher than he’d ever heard it. Eggsy scowled at him.

“You fucking knew he was going to kick me out on whatever he could.” Eggsy spat back. “‘Only risk a life when one can be saved’, my  _ arse _ . Only fucking applies when you’re posh enough to pay for the funeral, right?”

“That doesn’t explain why you felt the need to steal my boss's car, and  _ humiliate  _ me-”

“ _ You?! _ That old tosser breaks his own fucking rule to throw me out, and you’re going on about  _ you _ ?! This ain’t about  _ you,  _ Harry! So sorry I didn’t want to shoot a fucking innocent dog for a fucking  _ job- _ ”

“It was a fucking  _ blank _ , Eggsy! It was  _ blank,  _ you wouldn’t have killed the bloody dog- Amelia, the girl who died on your first night, she’s alive- limits have to be tested, i thought you would’ve guessed after the parachute fiasco-”

“So  _ fucking  _ what?! What was it supposed to prove, what limit - was I supposed to prove that I could kill a defenseless animal?”

“That you could follow orders despite your personal feelings!”

“Well, fuck  _ that,  _ then!”

“So this is it?! I give you your biggest opportunity, and you’re just going to  _ walk away- _ ”

“I owe you  _ fuck all!  _ I’m not your charity case, Harry - you don’t get to  _ guilt  _ me when things don’t go your way!”

“I’m not-”

“No, fuck  _ off,  _ Harry! You’ve done your bit for charity, you made markless shit feel like  _ someone  _ believed in him, and now you’ve made it clear you don’t give a shit, you can  _ piss off!” _

There was silence. Harry looked as if Eggsy had punched him. “Can’t you see I did everything I could for  _ you?! _ ” he said weakly. “Not for charity - I did it for you, Eggsy. I tried to make sure you had everything to succeed, I tried to  _ help-  _ I did it because despite what you think, I actually  _ do  _ give a shit about you, Eggsy, but I stand aside and watch you tear yourself apart!”

At Harry’s words, Eggsy felt as if the bottom of his stomach had dropped down to dangle somewhere between his knees. He fucked this thing up so bad, and he knew it. He knew it the moment he handed the gun back to Arthur, he knew it the moment he took Arthur’s car, and he knew it now, standing here under the crushing weight of Harry’s disappointment. The knowledge ached between his ribs like an open sore, and all Eggsy wanted to do was to step forward into Harry’s arms and leech some little bit of comfort from the older man’s body. But he couldn’t, he fucked up and Harry was disappointed and Harry would probably leave now, there was nothing holding him back, it wasn’t as if Eggsy had Harry’s name marked on his body, it wasn’t like Harry had his name either-

“I fucked up.” Eggsy said faintly.

“Yes, you did.”

The sharp buzz from Harry’s glasses broke Eggsy from his thoughts. He watched as Harry turned away from him, tapping the glasses to speak with Merlin, the ache in his chest turning into a hollow pain. He had to curl his hands into fists to stop them from burying themselves into Harry’s cardigan, to stop himself from curling up to the man from behind and pressing his nose into the woven material on Harry’s shoulder. Meanwhile, Harry murmured away to the man on the other line, staring out of the window as he listened or watched whatever Merlin had to give him, seemingly oblivious to Eggsy’s inner turmoil.

“Harry, I’m so sorry.” Eggsy said as soon as Harry had finished his call. “I fucked up bad, I know, but I swear I’ll fix this, I’ll make it up to you-”

“You should be.” Harry interrupted, and Eggsy felt like he’d been slapped. “We’ll fix this mess after I’ve come back.”

Eggsy nodded miserably, and stepped out of the doorframe to let Harry pass. He stared down at his feet, missing the softening of Harry’s eyes, and the telltale twitch in his fingers that would’ve told him Harry wanted to hold him as much as he wished to be held. But it was of no consequence - Harry swept past him and went back up the stairs. Eggsy leaned back against the door frame and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms, the hollow pain in his chest making it difficult to breathe. His joints creaked in pain, his eyes felt distinctly watery, his throat felt tight, and the only thing that was stopping him from sobbing there and then was the thought that he  _ could not cry in front of Harry _ .

He couldn’t make the man more ashamed of him than he already was.

With his eyes covered, Eggsy missed Harry coming back down the stairs. So focused was he on not crying that he didn’t catch Harry’s guilty and sorrowful look towards him, his pausing on the last step of the stairs, the older man’s hand reaching out towards him, twitching, before being pulled back into a light fist. The snap of the door was the only indication Eggsy got of Harry leaving the building, and the noise snapped what little self control Eggsy had left.

Eggsy sunk to the floor, brought his knees up to his chest, and sobbed.

* * *

Eggsy was sure he’d stayed on the floor for a good two hours before he mustered the energy to drag himself up onto his feet. He didn’t get into Harry’s shower so much as fall into Harry’s shower, using the hot water to wash away the dried tears from his face.He took the time to wash and dry his hair, using Harry’s soap and towels, before curling up on Harry’s bed in Harry’s dressing gown. Feeling exhausted and empty inside, he shut his eyes and tried to sleep.

When he woke up later, he felt marginally less dead and far more interested in what Harry was involved in. Harry’s laptop was far too big a temptation to miss - Eggsy was on to it almost as soon as he pulled his clothes on. He had expected Merlin’s security handywork to be present on the thing - he wouldn’t have been surprised to find face recognition software, or a thumbprint scanner at the very least - but luck would have it that Harry hadn’t logged off before he left, and it was ridiculously easy for Eggsy to guess the lock screen password (rather awkwardly, it was his own name).

“-arming sermon.” he heard Merlin say as Eggsy loaded up the feed. “Can you see where Valentine is?”

Harry’s casual look around the place gave Eggsy the chance to get a scope of his surroundings. South Glade Mission Church was just like any other church - there were glass windows, a community organ in the corner, several tonnes of candles and a small pedestal where a sweaty pastor screaming about some sin or another. But for all it’s old fashioned glory, it was very evident someone had revamped the electrics - Harry was looking very specifically at a modern 360 security camera. 

Eggsy watched as the feed suddenly split into two screens - one was from Harry’s glasses, and the other from the security camera - Merlin must’ve been able to hack into it somehow. It gave Eggsy a new vantage point to see the room - there were very few pieces of art with the exception of the windows, leaving the room quite bare. Eggsy would bet that the church would feel very empty without the rowdy congregation. They were the only life in the place, which was a rather depressing circumstance seeing as they were all cheering at the prospect of people burning in Hell. Eggsy was trying to figure out if one of the congregation was having a fit or was just incredibly excited about the sermon when he noticed the small chat box in the corner of the screen.

_ You shouldn’t be here, Eggsy _ .

Eggsy really should’ve expected Merlin to be able to rat him out.

_ Blame Harry’s shit security,  _ he typed back.  _ Tell him to change his password. _

_ I told him it was ridiculous,  _ came the next message.  _ But Harry knows best, of course. The daft bat. _

_ He’s our daft bat though,  _ Eggsy replied, smiling a little.  _ You gonna cut me off now? _

_ As if you wouldn’t find a way to get back on here.  _ Eggsy could almost hear the resignation in Merlin’s voice.  _ Don’t distract me and I’ll let you stay. _

The chat box winked out of existence, and Eggsy turned his attention back to Harry. Harry himself was trying to extricate himself from the pew - rather unfortunately for him, a rather boisterous woman was sat in his way, and was glaring at him as if he had blasphemed in front of the Holy Spirit.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked in a snide Southern state accent. Harry tried to move past her, but she leant forward and blocked his path. Eggsy heard Harry’s tiny sigh.

“I  _ said _ ,” the woman snarled. “Where do you think you’re  _ going? _ ”

“I’m leaving.” Harry said politely. The woman scowled.

“Why? Don’t like what he’s saying?” Harry looked at the woman for a long moment, before he came out with one of the best things Eggsy had ever heard in his life.

“I’m a Catholic whore. Currently enjoying congress  _ out  _ of wedlock with my black Jewish boyfriend who works in a military abortion clinic.”

The woman gawped and spluttered at Harry, who gave the woman a butter-wouldn’t-melt smile. It was all Eggsy could do to stop himself from howling with laughter.

“You’re having me  _ on _ .” The woman finally managed to say. “You’re making that up to get up my back-”

“I am, unfortunately.” Harry said, sounding mockingly sorrowful. “But I really am enjoying congress out of wedlock, and I do have a boyfriend, and I really must get back to him to give him a really good spanking for all his sins. So hail Satan, and have a lovely afternoon, ma’am.”

And with that, Harry scooted past the woman, and wandered back up the church aisle. Eggsy could only stifle his laughter behind his hand as he watched the people around the church realise that he was leaving, all of which got up and started yelling obscenities at Harry’s back, and Harry who looked as if he could not give a fuck. Eggsy did not blame him - Harry had probably faced down countless threats in his life, he wasn’t going to be cowed by someone’s comments about him going to hell! He was a proper posh man who held a stiff upper lip until in private, a man who was unfailingly polite in your face, a man who… who...

...who was slowing  _ down _ .

Eggsy’s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. This wasn’t supposed to happen, Harry was supposed to be  _ leaving _ , he was supposed to be hailing a kingsman cab, he was supposed to be snarking with Merlin over the intercom, he wasn’t supposed to stop two feet away from the door. The smile on Eggsy’s lips slid away as he watched Harry’s face shift, his fingers twitch, before his hand went inside his jacket and pulled out a pistol. Harry levelled the pistol at the woman’s head and the world around them went silent.

The pistol’s safety clicked off.

There was a pause.

And then the bloodbath began.

It was all Eggsy could do to not scream. This was not like in the pub - Harry was shooting to kill now. And it was absolutely  _ terrifying.  _ Eggsy wanted so badly to turn away, to not look at the carnage of the church, but his hands were frozen to the keyboard and his eyes seemed unable to tear themselves from Harry’s figure. Eggsy could only stare as Harry dispatched member after member of the congregation, abandoning his gun after a while and ripping them apart with his bare hands. 

It was only when Harry finally dispatched the pastor with a stake to the neck that Eggsy finally tore his eyes away from the screen to throw up in a nearby waste paper basket. He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, eyes streaming as he turned back to the laptop, trying to process what he’d just scene, trying to fit the murderous Harry with the affable man he knew, that Harry who sent him coffee and chocolates and new shoes, that Harry...

That Harry who stood in the middle of a bloodied church, looking just as terrified as Eggsy felt.

Harry staggered forward, heading towards the door with an unsteady gait, his hands coming to press against the walls for balance, leaving bloody handprints in his wake. The bright blue Kentucky sky that streamed through the doors as Harry opened them seemed too cheerful considering what had just happened. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the sun shone down brightly on Harry as he stepped outside. Richmond Valentine stood in the open driveway, his side kick Gazelle a few steps behind, and two heavily armed security guards behind him.

“What did you do to me?” Harry spoke, and his tone of voice sent a shiver up Eggsy’s spine. “I had no control, I killed all those people, I- I  _ wanted  _ to. What did you do to me?!”

“It’s very simple.” Valentine replied, smiling a little. “I activated all your neural centers of aggression, and switched off all your inhibitors.”

“Through your free SIM cards, I presume?”

“As much as I would love to confirm or deny your hypothesis...” Suddenly Harry was looking down the barrel of a gun. “..I’m  _ really  _ not that stupid.”

There was a gunshot, and Eggsy’s world fell apart.

* * *

He can’t remember much of what happened next, only that his heart was carefully shredding itself inside his ribs, and his mind was crying out for someone,  _ anyone _ . He remembers getting into Arthur’s taxi, remembers skipping a few red lights, remembers getting to the shop, and suddenly he’s looking for Merlin, but not knowing where he is. He passes so many rooms that everything becomes a blur and he’s not sure where he is and everything  _ hurts _ -

“Eggsy.”

Recognisable voice. Not Merlin, but it’s someone. Eggsy doubled back, and entered a dining room, where Arthur sat at the head of the table.

“Harry’s dead.” Eggsy said quietly. Nothing else mattered.

“Hence we’ve just drunk a toast to him. Come sit down.”

He sits.

Arthur smiles.

Eggsy doesn’t.

Arthur begins to speak about Harry, about loyalty and fidelity and how Harry was a great agent but none of it goes into Eggsy’s mind. He is stuck in a loop where Harry is in his mind’s eye, alternatively flickering from mad gunman to soft loveable bedmate to sharply dressed stranger. He was aware enough to notice a Valentine implant scar on Arthur’s neck, a vague note of “poison” floating around in his mind’s eye. Arthur jabbered on about climate change and doesn’t notice Eggsy switching the glasses around, but as Eggsy picked up the glass for a second toast, he came to the realisation that he can’t remember who’s got the poison and who hasn’t.

He doesn’t think he cares much anymore.

“What is your choice, boy?” Arthur asks him, showing him a pen. Eggsy recognised it as the trigger for the poison. “You can join Kingsman with me, or…”

He paused for dramatic effect, thumb hovering over the switch.

Eggsy smiled.

“I’d rather be with Harry, thanks.”

“So be it.” Arthur pressed the switch.

For a moment, nothing happened. And then Arthur twitched a little. Then again. And then he made a funny little sound before one of his arms wrapped around his midsection. Eggsy gave him a funny little smile.

“You see, that’s the problem with us common types.” Eggsy said casually, running a finger around the rim of his glass. “We’re remarkably light fingered. Kingsman’s taught me a lot, but sleight of hand? Already had that down to pat.”

“You… you  _ bastard. _ ” Arthur ground out through convulsive shudders. “You unmarked  _ whore _ \- you ain’t… you’ll never match us- you- he never wanted  _ you _ \- no-one  _ will-  _ common fucking  _ slut-” _

Arthur’s head hit the table with a satisfying  _ thud _ , and he did not speak again.

* * *

Try as he might, Eggsy doesn’t remember much of breaking into Valentine’s base. All he remembers is gunfire and laughter, the smell of two-hundred odd head explosives going off, and he doesn’t know how many people he killed, only that it was a  _ lot.  _ He remembers Gazelle, and he remembers Charlie, Charlie his brother who tried to kill him, and he remembers the princess, and pounding her into the mattress and trying not to cry out Harry’s name as he came.

He slept for most of the journey home. Roxy curls up on the tartan sofa next to his feet and slept too, offering what little comfort she could. Merlin puts the plane on autopilot and he slept for a time too, Eggsy’s head nestled in his lap. He doesn’t remember landing, but he remember’s Merlin telling him to go home, and it takes him a while to remember that he has a home outside of Kingsman and Harry’s house. He arrived home to an empty flat, save for his little sister Daisy, who slept unaware in her cot.

Eggsy goes to his room, but he feels nothing. There’s no joy or happiness at seeing all his things, just as he left them. He runs his finger along the edge of a framed photo of him in the marines, and feels nothing. He lies on the bed, looks up at the ceiling, and the only thing he thinks of his how strange it is that J.B. is at Kingsman and not sitting on his chest like he normally does. 

The front door of his house opens, and then closes. Dean is in the other room, he can hear him screaming at his mum, and suddenly he's restless. If he can rile him, if he can anger him... there's an itching under his skin that he can' bear. He's spoiling for a brawl, he's spoiling for something to knock him out of his dull stupor, he yearns to be hurt just so he can feel awake.

He stormed into the other room. Dean had Michelle pinned up against the wall, and his mum was crying and apologizing. Eggsy didn’t wait a minute before grabbing his arm and hurling him against the wall. Michelle screamed, but Eggsy could barely hear her over the pounding of blood in his ears. Dean blinked at him blankly, before he smiled a crooked little smile.

“So boy wonder’s back from summer camp.” he says,and it’s all Eggsy can do to stop himself from punching the man several times in the face.

“Fuck off, Dean.” he spits instead. “I don’t want to see your ugly mug here again, you hear me?”

“And who’s going to stop me?” Dean pushed himself up and got right in Eggsy’s personal space. “Is it going to be you, titch? Or maybe your mum, if you’re going to drive off in a cab again-”

The first punch Eggsy swings smashes Dean’s nose, and the second makes an ominous cracking sound near Dean’s ribs. Dean backs off, wheezing and swearing, and Eggsy’s knuckles are burning from the force he hits with and it feels  _ good _ , it feels like all his pent up emotions are just  _ bleeding  _ out of him-

Dean swings a ham-fisted punch at his cheek and Eggsy doesn’t even try to avoid it. The pain just fuels him - he hits and bites and screams and kicks and Dean stands no chance. Dean’s up against the wall, and Eggsy’s got him backed up there, and his mum is crying again but he feels  _ powerful _ -

“Take one more step-” Dean pants, fumbling with the back of his jeans. “Take one more step and I swear- I swear to god, I’ll kill you- I  _ swear- _ ”

There’s a gun in his hand, and Eggsy stares down the barrel and feels nothing. He should be afraid that he’s not even scared of death anymore, but he’s not, he feels empty and tired and restless and angry-

"Come on, then." Eggsy says blithely. "Shoot me. Shoot me dead. See if I give a shit-"

Dean's face was a mask of fury. His grip tightened on the gun. There's a pause, one, two, three  and then-

A click.

The cartridge is empty.

Eggsy can't say he's not disappointed.

Of course, his mum tells him to leave. Not Dean - Dean is going to hospital, and Michelle is going with him, and Eggsy can’t even bring himself to be angry with her for picking Dean over him yet again. Instead, he reverts to what he knows best - thieving and breaking into places. The lock-picking kit cuts grooves into Eggsy’s hand as he works it into the lock, and the door opens with a neat click. He notices that the radio is playing - did he have the radio on when he left? He can’t remember, everything was so long ago-

There’s a cold barrel of a pistol up against his neck and Eggsy doesn’t even flinch, just holds his hands up where his assailant can see them. There’s a few seconds pause, before the gun is removed, and Merlin steps into his line of sight.

“You should’ve called ahead.” Merlin said, his voice sounding exhausted. “I could’ve shot you.”

“That might make things better.” Eggsy replied. Merlin just looks at him, full of sorrow and exhaustion and Eggsy can tell he doesn’t want to fight him, and Eggsy doesn’t really want to fight him either, he’s just so tired of  _ everything _ . Merlin steps forward, and the light from the living room illuminates his defeated posture - he’s wearing Harry’s jumper over his own clothes, the hand not holding the gun is pressed against the wall, and he just looks so,  _ so  _ tired-

With a slight cry, Eggsy throws himself around Merlin’s waist. Merlin’s arms come to wrap around Eggsy’s shoulders almost immediately, bone-crushing and tight but oh so welcome, and now they’re both crying and shaking and Eggsy’s not entirely sure whose tears are whose anymore. He clings and clings, his nose filled with the mixed scents of Merlin and Harry and for a little while he can pretend Harry was still here and still alive and-

Eggsy screams and cries into Merlin’s shoulder, and doesn’t stop until the morning light.

* * *

**** Harry’s house becomes Eggsy’s home from that night onwards. It’s a breath of fresh air, to have space to mourn and grieve without having to worry about Daisy or his mum of Dean and his gang. Two cups of tea and extra toast come in the mornings without much fanfare, and extra socks and shoes slip into the house like silent shadows. Merlin gives him company that he needs, a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, a body to reassure him when the nightmares become too much.

And if he spends more time in Merlin’s bed than the one in the spare room, there’s no-one there to comment on it.

He measures time in how many days it’s been since Harry’s death. It’s V-day plus seven days until he starts getting out of the house again, and that’s only because Merlin’s too busy to buy sugar. It’s V-day plus fifteen days before he stops crying at every minor provocation that reminds him of Harry. It’s V-day plus thirty-six days before he realises it’s actually his birthday, and he’s twenty two and his mark hasn’t shown up and for once in his life he doesn’t give a shit. Merlin gets him a small fairy cake and a new jumper.

“It’s not much,” Merlin said apologetically, setting the small cake, complete with candle, in front of him. “But given the circumstances, I didn’t think you’d want a massive party.”

“It’s alright, Merlin.” Eggsy replied, giving him a smile. “Thank you. I’d forgotten what day it was.”

“Well, now you know.” Merlin went into the kitchen, and the clacking of crockery indicated he was making tea. “Blow the candles out, Eggsy, or you’ll be eating more wax than cake.”

“Yes  _ sir _ .” Eggsy let himself grin, before blowing out the singular candle, watching the smoke spiral from the wick towards the ceiling. “This cake homemade?”

“As in homemade by Roxy? Yes.”

“Not by you?”

“Eggsy, I can’t even make pancakes.”

“You make a good spag bol though. I don’t think anyone can make pancakes, really. All those cookery book photos must be photoshopped.”

“Ah yes, the great pancake conspiracy. I remember now.” Merlin returned to the table with two cups of tea. “Here you go, Eggsy. Tea with everything in it. Happy birthday, lad.”

“Ta, Merlin.” The two of them sat side by side, sipping their drinks quietly. Merlin was gazing out into the darkened garden, where whines and snuffles gave away the fact that JB was busy rootling around in the compost bin again. Eggsy was staring down at the table, methodically picking apart and nibbling at the birthday cupcake. It was a melancholy kind of mood - they both knew who should’ve been there to celebrate.

“How was work?” Eggsy asked, trying to find something to break the gloomy atmosphere.

“Busy, as always.” Merlin took another gulp of tea, before setting the cup down with a distinct  _ clink _ . “There’s, ah, something I need to discuss with you. About Kingsman.”

“Alright.” Eggsy abandoned his cupcake and turned to Merlin. “What’s up? You thinking of leaving?”

“No, no. It’s just… there’s been talk up top about finding a new Galahad.”

A stone seemed to lodge itself in Eggsy’s throat. “Oh yeah?” he said, feigning nonchalance. “You going to train a few cadets up for it again?”

“I won’t be training this one.”

“Won’t be…” A sudden idea popped into Eggsy’s mind. “They want to hire me for the position, don’t they?”

“Eggsy-”

“I’m sorry, Merlin, I can’t. I  _ can’t _ . I’m not ready, it’s only been a month, I-”

“Eggsy, will you listen-?”

“What’s there to say? I can’t take his place, why can’t they recruit-”

“They’re not offering you the position of Galahad, Eggsy!”

Eggsy stopped midway through his panicked babble, his mouth hinged open like a particularly gormless fish. Merlin snorted, and gently used two fingers to close Eggsy’s mouth.

“They’re training a recruit to be Galahad.” Merlin continued. “Even though several members of the round table fought hard for your immediate inclusion. Roxy especially.”

“That was nice of them.” Eggsy managed in a strangled voice.

“You’re more than qualified, Eggsy.”

“But I’m not ready. Not to be Galahad, at any rate.”

“I know.” Eggsy paused as he mentally reviewed what Merlin had been saying. “Wait, what do you mean ‘you won’t be training this one’ then?”

“I won’t be. The temporary Arthur has decided that I have enough on my plate being quartermaster to the other agents, and has assigned training recruits to someone else.”

“Then who?”

“Well, given that you accept, it’ll be you.”

Everything suddenly seemed very far away. “Training recruits?!  _ Me?! _ ” Eggsy heard himself say. “Are you off your head?!”

“Not yet. After your addition to the table was… vetoed, this was the next suggestion. Lancelot was very good at convincing the new Arthur of your merits.”

“Yeah, but me? Teach?! You know me Merlin, I can barely take care of myself let alone a shit ton of newbies-”

“You won’t be on your own. Nimue- that is, the Amelia that you met during your own training - she’ll be taking on some of your duties”

“But still…  _ me?! _ ”

“You.” Merlin leant towards Eggsy, and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “Eggsy, this could be a fantastic opportunity for you. I saw how you coached Roxy through her fear of heights, I’ve seen how you trained the most stubborn dog I’ve ever had the fortune of meeting-” Eggsy snorted involuntarily at this. “-and I know you can do this.”

“But… no. Merlin, I can’t-”

“You can.”

“No, I can’t! Merlin, how can I train someone to be Galahad when I still associate Galahad with Harry?!” Eggsy tore himself away from Merlin’s grasp, and strode angrily around the table to the tall windows. He stared out at the inky black landscape of the garden, the sunset nearly finishing the handover of day to night. JB gave him a cheerful look from the other end of the garden, tongue lolling and tail wagging, before diving into the compost heap again.

“Eggsy…” Eggsy heard the soft padding of feet against carpeted floor, before he felt Merlin’s hands on his shoulders and his back against a warm, solid chest. The strength from the other man seemed to seep into his bones, and he felt the torrent of emotions swirling inside him stabilize a little.

“It won’t be fair.” Eggsy said quietly, once he felt able to speak without shouting. “It won’t be fair on them - I’ll judge them on how similar they are to Harry, I know I will-”

“Do you really think Harry will be that easy to replace?”

Eggsy was silent. Merlin continued speaking.

“Eggsy, I miss Harry as much as you do. You know I do. And I know you won’t do that to the recruits - the fact you’re aware that you could pretty much rules that out. You need this, Eggsy. You need to not coop yourself up in here, you need to stop steeping yourself in Harry’s things. You need to start talking about Harry, and what better way than to teach others about what Harry taught you?”

“He taught me so much - I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“You could start by teaching them how to steal the bosses car.”

Eggsy laughed a little. “Harry didn’t teach me that.”

“Then maybe about the difference between Oxfords and Brogues? Harry was always quite fixated on the difference.”

“Now you’re just taking the piss.”

Merlin snorted. “Alright, maybe I am. But please, I really do think it would be a fantastic opportunity for you. Don’t throw it away.”

_ You threw away your biggest opportunity over a fucking dog,  _ Harry’s voice echoed in Eggsy’s head in response to Merlin’s words. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and then did it again.

“Alright Merlin,” he said after a lengthy pause. “I’ll take it.”

Merlin smiled at him, a true genuine smile.

“Next week. Welcome to the tech team…  _ Madoc _ .”

* * *

For all of Kingsman’s many attributes, patience was not one of them. There was no specific teacher-training course - it was the opinion of the Kingsman overlords that if you were able to be a handler, you could teach a couple of snot faced kids how not to die. Eggsy was therefore thrown head first into a ridiculously intensive handler training course - twelve hours, every day, either shadowing Merlin or another of the handlers, or in the tech department learning code and databases and so much jargon that it made his head spin.

And somehow during all this, Eggsy was supposed to write an opening speech for the recruits. Something that Merlin was flatly refusing to help him with.

“You have to write your own, lad.” Merlin said over tea one evening. “You have to decide what tone you’re going to set.”

“Can’t you just help me write the start?” Eggsy wheedled. “Yours was  _ immense _ \- you had us scared out of our wits for the entire thing.”

“Eggsy, no. I’m not going to help. Besides, I’m not entirely sure... ‘terrifying’ is exactly the tone you should be aiming for.”

“You saying I’m not frightening, Merlin? You  _ wound  _ me.”

“No offense Eggsy, but were the smallest candidate, and you carry a  _ pug _ with you.”

“...Yeah, alright, I’m not the most macho of blokes. But I can be scary!”

“I’m sure, Eggsy. Finish your toast, and get back to writing.”

Merlin had softened his stance on the issues closer to the time, grudgingly agreeing to at least read it over after he had finished. And it was with his approval that Eggsy now stood in front of a motley crew of potential recruits, speech memorized and internally bricking it.

At least the cast was more diverse than his own hiring pool. Only half of them were Oxbridge graduates this time around, and not all of them spoke with the Queen’s accent. He was even surprised that he recognised one of them - at the back of the group there stood an Bangladeshi woman who towered over them all, her dark, kinked hair tied back in a loose ponytail. Her name was Amira - Eggsy had been best mates with her brother Jamal back when he lived with his mum.

Eggsy knew he shouldn’t pick favourites, but he would be lying if he didn’t say he was hoping Amira did well.

“Good evening, everyone.” Eggsy smiled at the assembled lot. A few of them fired off a salute, to which Eggsy acknowledged with a smile. Amira’s eyebrow raised in surprise when she saw him, but she too gave him a small smile.

"Now then, you're about to embark on the most dangerous job interview of your lives..."

* * *

Teaching the crew was not as hard as he’d originally thought it was. Sure, the Oxbridge candidates were very wary of listening to what he has to say, but after seeing Amira and the other candidates flourish under his command, they were soon singing a different tune. Eggsy had opted not to have a fake death this time around, so there wasn’t really a shock to get all the candidates to work together. But by the second week, Eggsy caught Amira cutting and styling someone else’s hair, and he knew they were going to be fine.

“They’re pretty chummy, this lot.” Nimue once commented when she came over to chat. “Were we ever that close, Madoc?”

“You died a bit early for us to get that close.” Eggsy joked. “But yeah, we did each other’s hair. I think we were a bit stir-crazy - maybe I should send these on a holiday… you got any quiet missions I can send them on?”

“I wish. A mission with boots on the ground would be a welcome change. You know what Merlin’s got me doing?”

“What?”

“Researching some guy who’s buying Monopoly boards in South America. Monopoly boards! In South America! I don’t even speak Spanish!”

“Looks like a quiet week for you, then.”

Nimue groaned. “ _ Ugh _ . I’m hoping Merlin authorises my request for a recon mission there - I think I might scream if I have to look at another package of boards.”

The weeks went by, and the crew of twelve was slowly whittled down to three. Eggsy was secretly glad that Amira had made the final three, even if he didn’t admit it out loud. The group of three were all incredibly good, and Merlin had already complimented him on his teaching skills. Everything was going well - Eggsy no longer had Harry on the back of his mind, he and Merlin were closer than ever, he had a job doing something he loved...

Of course, something had to go wrong.

It was a normal Thursday morning when the problem arose. It was Merlin’s day off, but Eggsy still had to go in and train that day - his day off wasn’t until Monday. Merlin was always awake when Eggsy had to go, so there was no worry of waking him up by mistake when he went to work. Merlin normally lounged in bed whilst he was picking out what suit he should wear that day, but this morning Merlin suddenly propped himself up on his elbows, and stared at him hard.

“Eggsy,” Merlin said, a strange tone to his voice. “What’s that on your back?”

Eggsy frowned at him, and turned a full circle, trying to look at whatever Merlin was looking at. “There ain’t nothing there, Merlin.” he said, turning this way and that. “Merlin, are you sure-”

“No, there’s definitely something there.” Merlin got up out of the bed and walked towards him. He took Eggsy’s hand, and pressed it to a spot on his lower back, just above his arse. “There. You feel it?”

It did feel remarkably warm. Eggsy’s fingers mapped the area curiously, noticing that it was covered in thin, threadlike bumps. Parts of it were also kind of sore, and Eggsy kept wincing as he touched the sensitive parts.

“Is it like a rash or something?” he asked, rubbing his palm over it. “Merlin, get me a mirror, let me-”

Merlin was five steps ahead of him, and already had a mirror up against his back. It looked even worse than it felt - the patch was red, mottled and inflamed. Streaks of dark green were already spreading across the patch, twirling into spindly, intricate patterns.

It suddenly hit him exactly what was on his back.

“Shit.”

“Eggsy…”

“Merlin,  _ shit _ , it’s my- it’s my  _ mark _ , fuck-”

“Eggsy, it’s alright-” Merlin had his arms around him, and Eggsy clung to him, his hands clenching and unclenching against Merlin’s bare back. “Come on, Eggsy, breathe, it’s alright-”

“Merlin-” Eggsy was on the verge of panicking. “Merlin, what if it’s, what if-”

“Eggsy,  _ calm down _ . Okay? Just breathe for me, just copy me…”

Eggsy was shaking by this point, but he tried to do as Merlin asked, tried slow his rapid breathing. Merlin’s body was solid and heavy up against his, and his breathing was steady, which gave Eggsy something to ground himself with with. He shut his eyes, pressed his head against Merlin’s chest, and focused on Merlin’s steady breathing.

“Lad, speak to me.” Eggsy heard Merlin’s voice rumble through his chest. “What are you thinking?”

“I just… I want it to be Harry. And I want it to be you. I want it to be both of you. What if it’s not either of you, or if it’s just one of you-”

“Eggsy, it’s  _ alright _ . I’m going to be here no matter  _ what  _ mark you get, okay?”

“But Harry- his memory, I don’t want to-”

“You don’t want to insult his memory?”

Eggsy nodded.

“Did Harry ever say anything negative about your mark?” Eggsy shook his head. “Then wherever he is, be it up in the heavens or reincarnated as a cat - wherever he is, he  _ will not care  _ if you don’t have his name. You won’t be insulting his memory if his name isn’t on you.”

“You really think that?”

“Truly. If Harry Hart is anything, he is honest. And he didn’t care about mine.”

“Yeah, but Merlin, yours says ‘Destiny’. It passes for a tattoo.”

“That doesn’t matter. I don’t care, Harry didn’t care, and I am sure there is a strapping young person named Destiny who’s doing just fine without me. Your mark doesn’t define who you are. Sure, it could’ve come at a better time…”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re knee deep in training knights. It could’ve appeared when you’re not stressed about that.” 

“True…” Although he didn’t say anything, Eggsy had the distinct impression that that was not the reason Merlin had said what he did. But he didn’t have the capacity to handle that now - the mark on his back had started to throb, he felt emotionally flayed, and right now the only thing stopping him from flying into a panic was the reassuring  _ thump-thump-thump  _ of Merlin’s heart beneath his ear.

He buried his face in the crook of Merlin’s neck, and strove to forget about everything.

* * *

It was Monday evening when everything went to hell.

A day off should’ve been a day off. Eggsy had awoken to the prospect of a lie in, and had found pastries cooling in the oven when he went for breakfast. Merlin had already gone to work, but a note on the table said he hoped to be back early that evening and that he would bring take out. So he wouldn’t be alone, Eggsy called his mum, and convinced her to let him take Daisy out for the afternoon. It looked to be a perfect day.

It was five when he finally rolled back into the house. Daisy had worn him ragged - despite all his Kingsman training, he forgot how tiring it was to chase an energetic three year old around a park all afternoon. The house smelled of Chinese takeaway, and Eggsy grinned - Merlin had evidently gone all out for tonight.

“Is there a special occasion tonight, Merlin?” he called out into the empty hallway. There was no response for a minute, and then Merlin’s slow, heavy footsteps sounded through the floor above. Eggsy smiled at Merlin once he saw him at the top of the stairs, but Merlin did not smile back - in fact, he looked downright somber.

“You forgot your phone, Eggsy.” he said, and there was something strange about the way he was speaking. Eggsy gave him a quizzical look, and caught the phone he was tossed.

“Aww, you missed me Merlin? Did your livetext of the shit going down in the office go unappreciated?”

“Eggsy…” Eggsy felt his smile falter - Merlin was being perfectly serious, and that worried him. “Eggsy, check your missed calls.”

He did so, typing in his passcode with fingers that were just barely trembling. There were in fact three missed calls - all from the Kingsman office. Eggsy recognised the number immediately and his stomach plummeted - if the office was phoning him on his day off, that meant something had gone seriously wrong.

“It’s not all bad, is it Merlin?” Eggsy said, pasting a grin on his face that felt as fake as it probably looked. “A missed call from the office - it’s not terrible, could be... could just be the laminator again…”

Merlin gave him a wan smile, but said nothing. Eggsy turned away, tapping in the redial code with now shaking fingers. He lifted the phone to his ear, and waited.

“Customer complaints, how may I help?” The operator’s voice sounded falsely cheery, and it ground on Eggsy’s nerves.

“Hi, yeah, it’s Madoc… I need to speak to Nimue. Ruby lips above the water?”

There was silence, before a dial tone began. Eggsy drummed his fingers on the side of his thigh, all too aware of Merlin’s eyes burning a hole on the back of his neck. This wasn’t going to be bad, Merlin was wrong, it was going to be alright, it had to be alright, it  _ had  _ to be, Merlin had to be  _ wrong… _

“Nimue speaking.” Amelia’s voice was sharp - a sure sign something was wrong. Eggsy’s hopes of everything being alright began to crumble into dust.

“Nimue, it’s Madoc.” Eggsy’s voice quavered as he spoke, and he took a moment to take a deep breath and steady his voice. “What’s going on? What’s happened?”

“Madoc, there was an accident. I was overseeing training and…”

Eggsy could hear Amelia speaking to him but the words were just blurs. The bottom of his stomach had dropped into the bottom of Harry’s wine cellar, and it was only by pressing his hand to the wooden banister of the stairs that he was able to remain upright. Through the haze and spinning in his mind, he managed to spit out one word to stop the torrent of unwelcome news flowing from the phone in his hand;

“Who?”

There was an uncomfortable pause.

“I’m sorry, Eggsy. It’s Amira.”

* * *

**** The first night was a bit of a blur. Eggsy remembers signing off the call, before sequestering himself in the study for an hour. Merlin came after a while with tea and a sympathetic ear, and they spent a few hours discussing what had happened, and how it was absolutely definitely not Eggsy’s fault. That night had been spent on the sofa, eating takeout and watching shit telly, Eggsy cuddled up under Merlin’s arm.

It was harder to address the final two candidates, Archie and Yasmin. The two of them looked harrowed after what had happened - they were both trying to hold a stiff upper lip, but Archie’s eyes looked suspiciously red-rimmed. Eggsy didn’t exactly know all the details of what happened, but he did his best to comfort them despite that, and encouraging them not to leave.

The tech crew all rallied around him when he came back to the office. There wasn’t a day that went by without someone offering condolences or support. Nimue had come to see him on the third day, eyes red rimmed and lip wobbling, and had thrown herself into his arms. He’d spent most of that day convincing her that he did not blame her, that it was an accident.

And then, a week after the accident, he got a call to go to Arthur’s office.

He certainly had expected this at some point, but it didn’t stop a lump of iron forming in his gut. Merlin told him he had nothing to worry about, but he couldn’t help but feel that maybe Arthur did blame him. It had taken himself a while to stop blaming himself, but he knew now that he really could not be blamed, and neither could anyone else, but as he made his way up to Arthur’s office that Monday afternoon, he found himself trying to figure out how he might convince Arthur the of same thing.

The temporary Arthur sat behind the large mahogany desk. She was a small woman, with white hair and pearl earrings, but Eggsy knew she was not someone to mess with. Perhaps it was the way she dressed, or her hawk like eyes, or maybe the steely gaze that was in his direction, but either way Eggsy decided there and then he was not going to cross her unless necessary.

“You wished to see me, Arthur?” Eggsy asked politely.

“I’d rather you didn’t call me that.” The woman replied sharply. “I have no desire to be associated with this role, nor this gaudy office. You may call me M.”

“Sorry, ma’am. I’ll remember that.”

“Good. Now, sit down.” Eggsy picked the armchair with less feathers to sit in, whilst M shuffled around some papers. “Now, we’re here so we can discuss your progress. There are two candidates left, correct?”

“Yes. Archie and Yasmin.”

“And how do you think they’ve performed?”

“They’ve been… great, really. They’ve both taken to training very well. It will be very difficult to choose between them for the job - and I think it will be disappointing to lose one of them in the end.”

“A testament to your excellent training, I presume.”

“They had their own talents - I just helped them focus in the right direction.”

“And you have done that very well.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course, whilst looking at your progress, we can’t help but discuss the unfortunate accident…”

“Amira.”

“Yes. How have you handled her death?”

“I…” Eggsy thought for a while, thinking there was more to this question than met the eye. “I think I’ve done it very well. It was hard, at first - I did blame myself for it. But I did know that there was no way we could’ve stopped it - there was no way we could’ve predicted her death. I understand if you think it’s my fault-”

“I do not.” That drew Eggsy up short.

“Oh. Right. Alright.”

“I am more concerned with who you think is at fault. Do you blame Nimue, who oversaw the exercise?”

“No, no. I’ve spoken to Nimue, she was as gutted as I was. She tried to help her - she couldn’t do anything.”

“And you’re not angry at the agency?”

“No. The test is necessary. Kingsman had put all safety protocols in place. It was an accident - it’s not going to solve anything if we point fingers.”

“Good.” Suddenly M’s countenance relaxed, and she offered him a small smile. “Congratulations, I’m happy to say you passed.”

“Passed?” Eggsy frowned. “I wasn’t aware this was a test.”

“Oh, I know that. You weren’t supposed to know.” M stood up, and took a formal stance, hands behind her back. Eggsy nervously copied her, wondering what the hell was going on. He held M’s hard stare as she started to speak once again.

“By the power vested in me by the Kingsman agency, I would like to formally invite you to take the role of Galahad.”

Eggsy’s heart stopped.

“Me?” he spluttered. “But what about Archie? Yasmin?”

M gave him a tight smile. “Did you not realize? They’re not candidates at all. They’re all already hired by the Kingsman agency. All part of your rather extensive tech team. They all volunteered to pose as candidates to test  _ you _ , Mr Unwin. We - that is, the knights, myself, and your Quartermaster Merlin - wanted to see if you were emotionally capable of handling the role of Galahad.”

_ Hired _ ...  _ test…  _ his mind immediately flew to Amelia, who had pretended to drown for training, who actually worked in the tech department…

“Amira’s not dead, is she?” he asked shakily.

“She worked in your division - in fact, she was going to take your position before this… test was devised. She’s been taking leave with her family, and will take your position when you take Galahad’s seat.”

“When…? I haven’t decided yet!”

“Don’t tell me you won’t be taking it?”

Eggsy really wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to do. Everything was spinning faster and faster around his head and all he wanted to do was sit down and curl up for a while. It was a test. It was a fucking test. And everyone knew except him. He had been so happy teaching and coaching people, and they hadn’t even needed to learn. Nodding heads and smiling faces whilst behind the lies they already knew what he was trying to get into their skulls and were  _ humouring  _ poor little Madoc with his cockney accent.

How many people had he become friends with in the office? How many of them had watched how heartbroken he was when Amira ‘died’? How did Nimue keep a straight face when she told him the lie about her death? All those condolences, all those ‘I’m sorry, Madoc’, ‘How are you holding up, Madoc?’, and the ever pervasive ‘Feel better soon, Madoc’ were all fake. And they were probably laughing behind their hands, watching him, humouring him, and there was no possible way this could’ve happened without Merlin-

Merlin…

Merlin had  _ lied _ .

“You’ll have twenty-four hours to decide.” M continued on, eyeing him oddly. “Take the role of Galahad, or leave Kingsman. Understood?”

Eggsy nodded.

“Good. I look forward to hearing from you.”

M left the room, leaving Eggsy alone with his betrayal and anger.

* * *

Harry’s house had never looked less inviting. The hallways seemed too bright, the colours too garish, the sound of the radio grating on Eggsy’s ears. He was so filled with hurt and anger that it was difficult to process anything - his head ached, his mark ached, everything  _ ached  _ and the house seemed to just rub everything the wrong way that night. He stormed into the dining room in a fit of rage, and smashed the off button on the radio, hitting it until it finally stuttered into silence. There was the sound of creaking floorboards, before Merlin stuck his head around the door frame, his face a little perturbed.

“What did the radio ever do to you?” he asked. Eggsy turned to him, shaking with repressed anger.

“You  _ fucking  _ cunt.”

“Excuse me?”

“You fucking  _ cunt,  _ Merlin! You  _ bastard _ , you fucking  _ knew- _ ”

“Knew what? Eggsy, what-”

“About Amira! About the whole fucking  _ farce-  _ you fucking  _ lied  _ to me, Merlin, you said I wasn’t considered for Galahad!”

Merlin was silent for a moment as understanding dawned on him, but he soon schooled his features into neutral. “Eggsy, I can explain-” He stepped further into the room, and reached out to touch him, but Eggsy stepped back.

_ “Don’t touch me!”  _

“Eggsy,  _ please _ -”

“Was this some kind of sick  _ joke _ ?” Eggsy fumed. “You felt sorry for the little unmarked boy who just lost the best thing that ever happened to him, so you drag him along for some goose chase to convince him he was  _ worth  _ something-”

“That’s not what it was like at all!”

“Then  _ what?! _ Please explain, Merlin, because I would  _ love  _ for you to explain why you put me through a week of  _ grief  _ for someone who  _ wasn’t even fucking dead!” _

“It was the only way the team would consider you for Galahad!” Merlin finally broke, his anger radiating from his voice. “They wanted a replacement, and I had to convince them to hold it open for you when for you were ready!”

“For when,  _ I  _ was ready?!”

“Yes! You could be an  _ amazing  _ Galahad-”

“I’ve  _ never  _ wanted to be fucking Galahad! I told you that!”

“You just weren’t ready-”

“No,  _ fuck  _ that Merlin! The only person who gets to decide what I work as is  _ me!” _

“I was trying to make your lot better-”

“My lot was  _ fine!  _ We were  _ fine,  _ Merlin. Together, we were  _ fine. _ Were you not happy or something- _ ” _

“I was happy, but you-”

“I was  _ fine!  _ I was fucking  _ fine,  _ until this whole shit blew up! We might not be romantic, but we’re  _ something _ , and that something means you  _ have to fucking respect my decision when I say no! _ ”

There was a resounding silence. Merlin looked as if he’s only just realised the massive fuck-up he’d just caused, his face a mixture of pain and regret. Some dark, bitter part of Eggsy took pleasure in that, 

“Eggsy, I-”

“No, fuck you Merlin.” Eggsy interrupted him. “Fuck you, fuck Kingsman, fuck  _ everything _ . I don’t want anything to do with you or Kingsman unless I initiate it, alright. Whatever we had, whatever that  _ something  _ was, it’s gone. It’s over.”

“Fuck,  _ shit _ \- Eggsy, I didn’t think-”

“Yeah, well maybe you should’ve.” Eggsy walked passed Merlin, into the hallway. Merlin seemed to shrink into the wall, and had Eggsy been in a better frame of mind he might’ve been worried that he had made the other man so fearful of his presence.

“I’m going to pack the essentials.” Eggsy said quietly. “And then I’m going to leave. You are going to get me off every single Kingsman database. You’re not going to track me, or call me, or  _ anything _ . I want nothing to do with you. Is that understood?”

“Eggsy…” Merlin looked like a broken man, but Eggsy stayed firm, and Merlin sighed. “Alright. I’ll do it.”

Eggsy nodded, before heading upstairs to pack a bag. Everything had changed.

* * *

Late that evening, Eggsy found himself wandering his old home streets, trying to find some comfort in them. His soulmark burned and itched beneath his jacket, and he wished to high heaven that it had never turned up at all. He wished he’d never heard of soulmarks, never been tempted to follow Harry Hart into his  _ stupid _ agency, wished he’d never bonded with Merlin, wished he’d just not phoned anyone that afternoon in the police station and just pleaded guilty and stayed in jail.

Everything hurt so bad, and he had nothing left. Harry had died, Merlin had betrayed him, his mum chose Dean over him, he hadn’t seen any of his old friends in  _ months _ … His naive belief that Harry was his soulmate, that everything would be alright once he had his soulmate, that belief had wrecked his life. Harry and Merlin always told him not to hold too much stock in those things, but he always half hoped they’d turn out true. And they didn’t, and he was left with the fallout.

He passed his old local Chinese takeaway store. The smell reminded him of the night Harry bought takeaway for the entire trainee group, when Merlin bought it after Amira… Eggsy quickly moved on, his gut roiling. The next few stores were all closed, their lights out and shutters pulled down to protect the windows. There was a tattoo parlour at the end of the road that was still open, the fluorescent lights being the brightest thing on the street. It looked familiar to Eggsy, and he approached it warily, trying to place it...

_ Jamal works here,  _ his mind finally supplied. Jamal, Eggsy’s friend, his closest friend who’d do anything for him-

He suddenly knew what he needed to do

The bell rang as Eggsy made his way into the little tattoo parlor. Jamal was there, sweeping the floor, but he looked up as Eggsy walked in. He was a Bangladeshi man, tall but rather stocky, with short black hair and a slight shade of stubble. Jamal initially greeted him with a polite smile, but his eyes widened as he recognised the other man.

“Eggsy!” he cried, dropping the broom on the floor. “Eggsy, mate, I haven’t seen you in ages, what’s up man-”

He came over and gave Eggsy a hug. Eggsy hissed as Jamal’s arms brushed the sore soulmark on his back, and Jamal immediately withdrew, his face furrowing into a frown. 

“Mate, are you alright? Are you hurt - you’re not getting into all that gang shit again, because I told you, bruv-”

“Not, it’s not that.” Eggsy took a deep breath, and looked Jamal in the eye. “Jamal, I need you to do me a massive favour.”

“What is it?”

“I… I need you to cover my soul mark.”

“Cover it?” Jamal looked at him. “Eggsy, everyone on our street knows you haven’t got one-”

“It’s come in over the last week.” 

“Then… aren’t you happy? Like do you not like who it is or-”

“I don’t know who it is, the name’s not clear. But I don’t want to know, I just- Jamal, I need you to make it invisible. I need you to tattoo over it.”

“Mate, you… do realise that’s illegal?” Jamal’s voice was soft, and it pricked on Eggsy’s last nerve.

“It’s no more illegal than the other stuff we’ve done.” Eggsy snapped. “How many times have I let you out cause we’ve jacked the wrong car? You owe me, man.”

“I know that! But… it’s your  _ soul mark,  _ Eggsy. You’ve wanted one your whole life - you could leave your life behind with it-”

“Jamal, I don’t want it, alright!” Eggsy’s shout echoed around the empty parlour. “I don’t care if it’s ‘special’,  _ I don’t want it _ ! I don’t give a  _ shit _ what you put over it- You could tattoo a set of tits on it for all I care, I just want it  _ gone _ . I don’t want to know what it says, and I don’t want to see it ever again! Now, will you do it, or do I have to find someone else?!”

Eggsy was breathing heavily after his outburst. Jamal looked at him for a long moment, before he sighed and shook his head. “Alright, bruv.” he said. “Get on the fucking table. I swear to god though, I’m not gonna be the one to laser this all off if the cops get on your back.”

Eggsy clambered up onto the table and buried his face in the black leather pillow. Jamal left to get what he needed from the back room, grumbling about daft mates and ridiculous requests. He returned with his kit only a few moments later, a sharp leather box under one arm and a bunch of transfer papers in his hand. 

“Jamal?” Eggsy asked quietly as Jamal set up his gear on a nearby metal table.

“What?”

“...Please don’t tattoo a pair of tits on my back.”

Jamal only laughed in response, Eggsy had no chance to see what design he had chosen before the papers were stuck on his back, smoothed over, and unceremoniously ripped off. Eggsy tried to get a look as Jamal set up the tattoo pen, but a firm hand on his neck pushed his face into the table pillow before he could see. There was the sudden buzz of the pen, and Eggsy soon found the pain of the procedure was enough to distract him from finding out what was going on his back.

Eggsy drifted off on the table, his eyes shuttering closed and his hands reflexively curling around the pillow. He wasn’t completely unaware of his surroundings - the buzz of the tattoo pen was always in the back of his mind, and the clink of the other staff packing up their gear and saying goodbye was a distant noise. At one point he was certain that he heard Amira’s voice, and his blood ran cold, but it was only a brief exchange and she was gone before Eggsy could muster up the courage to open his eyes.

“Alright, Eggsy.” Jamal finally murmured, turning the pen off with a decisive click. “All done. Take a look.”

Heart in his mouth, Eggsy got off the table and walked slowly to the mirror. He trusted Jamal, he really did, but the man had a strange sense of humour and Eggsy wasn’t entirely convinced he was the best person to ask to do this. Not that he would ask anyone else, that is. He turned to look at his back. The mark was completely covered, which is what Eggsy came for, but the design-

“Blue tits.” Eggsy said blankly. “Of all the birds you could’ve chosen, and you went with blue tits.”

“They’re not all blue tits.” Jamal replied blithely, pulling off his gloves. “One’s a great tit. And one’s an oak titmouse.”

“You tattooed a set of tits on my back.”

“Don’t give me that look. You weren’t exactly specific, and those were the only pre-prepped designs I had. I could’ve done worse.”

“Like what?”

“Could’ve put a set of boobies on there instead.”

Eggsy dropped his head into his hands and groaned.

* * *

Eggsy wasted no time in getting out of London that evening, opting to take the first train that left Euston station. It didn’t matter that he didn’t recognise the name of the place, he just needed  _ out _ . On the train he made the arrangements to get as far away from London as possible - luckily the place he was going to had a ferry port, and it was relatively easy to get a ticket for boat out for the following week. 

He landed in the town of Holyhead just after one o’ clock in the morning. Holyead was rather a place one passed through on the way to somewhere else, rather than somewhere one stayed for any great length of time. It was a pretty deprived area – despite the presence of a bustling port with ships ferrying out passengers to various parts of Ireland, the streets were old and cracked, the buildings worn and tired, and the people frowning at the presence of outsiders. Not even the council funded mosaics and stylistic bridges really brought any life to the place – they were jarring and out of place, rather like if someone built a modern skyscraper in the back alleys of London.

Of course, this suited Eggsy just fine. It reminded him of home.

The hotel room that he booked was comfortingly Spartan – a wicker chair, a shabby desk, a bed and a rather depressing plastic flower was all that it included. It was a far cry from the resplendent rooms usually rented when he was in Kingsman, but that was the point. Eggsy had no desire to have anything to do or to remind himself of the company. He handed in his Kingsman credit cards, all his old clothes provided by Kingsman were donated to charities, his tech was all returned in relatively one piece (with the exception of one hand grenade – Merlin had turned a blind eye to its disappearance and the unexpected explosion of Rottweiler’s car). Now it was just him, Eggsy, armed with a fifty pound suit and a phone that did nothing more than call numbers and play Snake.

All that was left now was to get rid of most of the small fortune now amassed in his bank account.

Of course, he had gotten his family a few nice things – Daisy a new romper and a university savings account, his mum some new clothes and the sudden disappearance of Dean – and a lot of his money switched into anonymous donations to a variety of charities, but the rest he put into airline tickets and ferries and hotel rooms. He had it all planned out – a round the world trip, starting in Dublin, crossing over to New York, then a brief stop in Kentucky, before Sydney, Tokyo, Calcutta, Tel Aviv and Cairo, before back to London and continuing with his non-threatening life.

Merlin had been true to his word, and as far as he could tell Kingsman was not tracking him or contacting him in anyway. Merlin had also wrangled him three glowing references for when he returned so that he could use his Kingsman skills in the modern workforce, as well as a paid-for flat in the middle of London. Eggsy had been half-tempted to refuse the flat, but he quickly changed his mind when he saw the look on his mum’s face when she walked through the front door for the first time.

All in all, it wasn’t great, but it had to do. The pain of Harry’s death and Merlin’s betrayal still bubbled in his chest like a fresh burn, and and it was all Eggsy could do to keep moving, to keep existing, and to not drown in the acid of his anger. Because being angry wasn’t going to fix anything, it wasn’t going to bring Harry back, it wasn’t going to make what Merlin did okay, his anger was valid but ultimately wasn’t going to help matters. He had to distance himself, step away, and give himself a chance to think.

The alarm on his phone went off. Eggsy pressed the button, before picking up his keys, tickets and his suitcase. He took one last look in the mirror before heading out the door.

It was time to move on.

* * *

Eggsy should not have expected to get away from Kingsman that easily.

His holiday had started well enough - Ireland was as beautiful as he had imagined it to be, and he ended up spending a few more days than he expected to in the country. A mistake in his booking meant he ended up spending a week in Toronto, a rather surprising change but not wholly unwelcome, especially when Eggsy found out he’d landed in the week of the biggest street market he’d ever seen in his life, the  _ Taste of the Danforth _ . By the time he got to New York, it was in full tourist swing, and getting to anywhere he particularly wanted to go was a near impossibility. The quietness of Kentucky was a welcome change, even though Eggsy wasn’t there for a joyful occasion.

It was only on the day before he was due to fly out to Sydney that Eggsy finally plucked up the courage to visit South Glade Mission church. He didn’t know what he was expecting - maybe a memorial or a sign that indicated the bloodbath that happened here - but the streets were quiet, and the church stood as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The welcome sign which once shouted to the world “AMERICA IS DOOMED” had been cleared, the tarmac out front had been cleaned, and the flowers and bushes have either died out or have been removed.

The door was locked when Eggsy went to open it, but a quick fiddle with a paperclip solved that problem. The inside was clean too - no blood or bodies or anything. The windows were all fixed, the altar had a new lick of woodstain and polish… There seemed to be less candlesticks around, but other than that there was nothing to indicate that anything untoward happened here at all. It was calm. Quiet.

Eggsy sat down in one of the pews. If he shut his eyes, he could nearly taste the blood that spilt that night. He could almost hear the hate preacher’s voice, hear the cheers of the angry congregation, smell the heat and sweat of bodies next to him, feel Harry by his shoulder, leaning over him...

“I thought I’d find you here.”

Eggsy whirled around. He had not heard anyone enter the church behind him, but the jumper and the bald head were unmistakable. Merlin was stood at the back of the church, hands behind his back and a somber look on his face. He stepped forward, almost hesitantly, before walking more firmly towards him, only stopping when he reached the end of the pew. Eggsy felt a surge of emotions at the sight of the other man - longing, relief, guilt… Eggsy hated to admit it, but he  _ missed  _ the other man. But above that, there was that flame of old anger and betrayal, and that smothered everything else.

“I thought you weren’t tracking me.” He said, aiming to keep his voice at least neutral.

“I’m not.” Merlin replied, stepping forwards until he stood within arm’s reach of Eggsy. “But something came up. I thought you’d visit here at some point, so I waited.”

“You waited?”

“You asked not to be tracked and not to be called – so I didn’t do either. Waiting was the alternative.”

“Merlin, you have the patience of a saint, but I swear to God you must’ve been waiting here forever. I’m running two weeks off schedule already-“

“It was important I speak to you, so I waited.”

“How long?”

“Long enough.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s all I’m saying.”

Eggsy sighed in frustration. “Look, what the fuck do you want, Merlin?” he asked. “Last time we saw each other, we weren’t exactly friendly, and I thought I made it clear I didn’t want to see you again unless it was on my own terms.”

“Eggsy…”

“What you’ve got to say better be important, because otherwise I ain’t listening.”

“Something’s happened.”

“What? It’s not Mum, is it? Or Daisy?”

“No, it’s not. It’s Kingsman business-“

“Then I definitely don’t want to hear it.” Eggsy slid out of the pew and stood, aiming to step around him, but Merlin’s strong hand reached out and held his shoulder in a vice grip.

“Eggsy, you need to listen.” There was an urgency in Merlin’s voice that wasn’t there before. “It’s about Harry.”

“Harry?” The familiar hole inside Eggsy’s heart ached at the sound of his name.

“We were looking through the personnel files for another mission, one involving the affairs of-“

“Merlin, I don’t give a shit.” Eggsy interrupted impatiently. “What about Harry?”

The grip on his arm tightened a fraction.

“Eggsy, Harry’s alive. Harry survived.”

_ Alive…  _ Eggsy’s world went blank, and he dropped to the floor like a stone.

* * *

The next thing Eggsy was aware of was a swinging sensation. He blinked a little, noticing that the ceiling he could see looked vaguely familiar but not being able to place it. There was some knitted fabric under his cheek, and a noticeable smell of coffee swam around his head. 

“Are you carrying me, Merlin?” he asked muzzily. 

“Hush.” was the reply he got. Eggsy shut his eyes again, trusting Merlin to carry him… well, to carry him wherever the hell they were going. He could hear the whirr of a lift, then the pad of feet on carpeted floor, a door hinge squeaking, and suddenly Eggsy was being settled into a plush bed. He looked around, taking in the remarkably cheap-looking room - a suitcase in the corner, a plastic kettle on the desk, obviously a hotel of some kind. It looked very familiar…

“Where are we, Merlin?” he asked. Merlin gave him a quizzical look.

“You must’ve hit your head harder than I thought.” he commented, flicking the on switch on the kettle and beginning to make tea. “We’re in your hotel room, Eggsy.”

“Oh.” Belatedly he realised that the suitcase in the corner was his own. He turned his head and looked over at the bedside cabinet. Sure enough, his phone sat on the side table, next to a glass of water. What had happened? He remembered the church, seeing Merlin and then… and then…

Oh shit.

Harry lived. Harry was alive. Harry Hart was living and breathing in the same world as he was. Harry Hart survived a gunshot to the head and was  _ goddamn motherfucking alive _ ...

But Harry hadn’t come back.

Eggsy leant over the side of the bed, pulled the rubbish bin towards him and threw up.

“Hey, hey, easy there.” There was a chink as something was set on the cabinet, before Merlin’s hands were in his hair and he was rubbing soothing circles on his scalp. Eggsy remained hunched over the edge of the bed, shuddering and shaking and crying. There was an itch under his skin,right in his very bones. He felt like screaming but also never speaking again, felt like running but not moving, both relief and despair. 

“Harry didn’t come back.” Eggsy whispered miserably. “Harry didn’t come back, Merlin he  _ left  _ us, how could he-”

“I know, son,” Merlin whispered back. “I know, I don’t know what he was thinking, but-” Here, he broke off, and Eggsy could feel him shaking in his arms. Something inside him snapped, and he fisted his own hands in Merlin’s jumper, half-hauling him onto the bed beside him. Merlin went willingly, and once he was settled, he pulled Eggsy into his arms and  _ clung _ . Everything outside of their bubble seemed to fade away, and it was just them, Merlin and Eggsy, two men whose entire worldview had been rocked and they couldn’t tell anyone but themselves. Eggsy curled up even tighter against Merlin’s chest, sobbing heavily now, not entirely sure which one of them was shaking more. His original anger had now died out, replaced by a deep, ripping rejection. He knew now what Merlin must’ve felt when he left London, and how he must feel now after finding out both his partners had rejected him. Although the feeling of betrayal was harsh, leaving Merlin hadn’t solved anything, it had just left Merlin and himself feeling miserable. He should’ve listened.

He swore to himself there and then he was not leaving Merlin’s side ever again.

“I fucked up.” Eggsy whispered into Merlin’s jumper. “Merlin, I’m so sorry, I fucked up, I never should have left-”

“Eggsy, no.” Merlin sounded just as broken as he felt. “No, I shouldn’t have agreed to it, I should’ve told you-”

“I forgive you, Merlin-”

“How can you? I treated you terribly-”

“Merlin, it wasn’t your fault. You were trying to make things better for me - I shouldn’t have flown off the handle at you-” 

“You had a right to be angry, I shouldn’t have-”

“I think we’re just going to have to agree that we should’ve done a lot of things, Merlin.” Eggsy felt Merlin laugh wetly into his hair, and he let himself smile a little. “But I am really sorry, Merlin.”

“Me too, lad. Me too.” They stayed together for some time longer, until Eggsy’s tears dried up and neither of them were shaking anymore. Merlin finally loosened the death grip he had around Eggsy, and gave him a weak smile before he pulled away and padded towards the bathroom, picking up the bin Eggsy had only just been sick in a few minutes before. There was the sound of water, of Merlin cleaning up, before the man returned, a soft washcloth in hand. Eggsy took the cloth with a murmur of thanks, cleaning the residue of tears from his face without fuss. Merlin sat back on the bed, not as close nor as clingy as he was, but close enough that the warmth of his body seeped into Eggsy’s from their contact.

“Tell me about Harry.” Eggsy said quietly after a few moments of comfortable silence. “I mean, I know he’s being a dick and all, but-”

“It’s alright, I understand. Do you want it from the start, or-”

“Yeah, go for it. It can’t get any worse.” Eggsy shut his eyes, and leaned against Merlin’s shoulders. Merlin paused, before wrapping one arm around Eggsy’s shoulders. He shuffled so he was seated more comfortably, and began to speak.

“It was back when you were handling the cadets, near the very end, when we first started noticing something was amiss. We were collecting data on someone linked to South America - you remember the case, the one Nimue was complaining about because of all the planes?”

“The guy who was moving all those board games around?”

“That’s the one. White man, settled in South America, doing something suspicious with Monopoly boards. We were looking at his contacts, and he seemed to be in contact with someone who travelled fairly frequently between his home in Puerto Madryn, a second address in the same area and somewhere roughly an hour outside of Trelew. She made the journey pretty frequently, at least once a week, sometimes twice, so we were a little concerned about what she might be doing. So we sent Lancelot in.”

“It turns out the woman in question was innocent - she was a therapist, our target turned out to have her in his hire, as did Harry. Lancelot found out that the second address was her own home, and just to clear things up she checked out the third address near Trelew. And that was when she found Harry.”

“She spoke to Harry before either of us?”

“Not spoke,  _ saw _ . It was by chance - I was on the feed at the time, and Lancelot was just clearing out her position in the stake out. She’d been there for three days, we thought the house was abandoned, that our information must be mistaken. And then on the last day, he opened the door, put his boots outside on the porch, and went back inside. We only saw him for a few seconds, but it was enough.”

“It’s not like Harry to be caught up in dodgy shit like this Merlin…”

“It’s not. He and the therapist are innocent, we proved that later. But Lancelot did a little digging - the people who live in Trelew just know him as “the white man who lives in the desert”. They think he’s a bit eccentric, and on Fridays he has someone deliver food to his house. That’s all they know.”

“Bit reclusive of him.” 

“That’s what I thought. Which is a bit strange - you know Harry, Eggsy. He’s no introvert - he’s always friendly, polite to a fault, and tends to befriend pretty much everyone. For him to act like this…”

“It is a bit weird, yeah.” Eggsy went silent for a while, and chewed his bottom lip. “You don’t think… that he’s  _ ashamed _ , do you? That he’s hiding away because he’s ashamed.”

“Who, Harry? What makes you say that?”

“I mean, he did get shot in the head. And he’s got a therapist which makes me think maybe…”

“Maybe he suffered brain damage of some type?”

“Maybe. Or something along those lines - you know Harry hates being looked after. And he’d only take a therapist on if it was something serious. I’m thinking… maybe the reason he didn’t come back was because he was ashamed he needed help. He didn’t want us to know how badly he got hurt by Valentine.”

“If that’s the case, he’s a damn fool.” Merlin shut his eyes briefly. “I’ll have to tell him that when I see him.”

“You’re going to see him?” Eggsy sat up straight. “When?”

“I was going to go as soon as I spoke to you.” Merlin paused for a minute. “Eggsy, I know you’re supposed to be on holiday, but I… I-”

“-want me to go with you?” Eggsy took Merlin’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Of course I’m coming - I doubt you could stop me from coming even if you tried.”

“He’s important to both of us. I wasn’t sure if you’d come because it’s still Kingsman business, but…”

“No, I’ll come.” There was a pause, before Eggsy continued in a quieter tone. “I’m not going back to Kingsman though. You get that, right? Even if you convince Harry to come home, I’m not going.”

“I know - I wasn’t going to suggest it. M has left, and the new Arthur’s a right bore. Won’t let me take the planes out for _anything_. Didn’t even authorized a flight to here – he tried to make me take a boat.” Merlin shuddered.

“Tried…” Eggsy started to grin. “Merlin, don’t tell me you _stole_ a Kingsman plane?!”

“…Technically as Quartermaster, only I authorize the release of the planes, so I’m not _stealing._ ”

“You stole a plane! Merlin, you’re _mental_. I tried to steal the old Arthur’s cab, and I got driven all the way back to Harry’s house! How the _hell_ did you do it?!”

As Merlin launched into an adventurous retelling of his daring plane heist, Eggsy settled back into the pillows and smiled. It was like things were back to normal.

* * *

Eggsy and Merlin flew out to Argentina the following day, not even giving Eggsy enough time to properly pack his suitcase. They left most of their belongings in the plane, and stored it as soon as they touched down on Argentinian soil. From Chapelco Airport, it was a quick hustle to convince a local business to rent them motorbikes (Eggsy had not known how angry Merlin could make himself sound in Spanish), and then it was a speedy drive through the city, before breaking into the Patagonian outback. It was over an hour before there was any sign of life, and another half before Merlin pulled themselves up outside what he claimed to be Harry’s house.

The house Harry was supposedly sequestered in was rather nondescript in appearance - it was a small, ramshackle wood building, with a creaky looking rocking chair on the outside porch. The window frames were painted red, but the paint was split and fading, and one of the upper windows had a spidery crack going through one of the panes. Had Eggsy not known any better he would’ve assumed the house was abandoned. But Merlin had taught him well, and he could see the signs of life - a scuffed doormat lay in perfect position on the porch, a distinct lack of cobwebs and dust in the windows, and a rather telling fan whirred away in the upstairs window. 

“I can’t see Harry wanting to stay here willingly.” Eggsy murmured, side-glancing at Merlin as they stared up at the house.

“Me neither.” Merlin replied tightly. “Come on, let’s try the door.”

The door was rather predictably locked. A knock received no answer. Eggsy made quick work of the lock with his tie-pin, as Merlin scanned the inside of the house through the front door window, looking for any hidden traps for intruders. But for an ex-spy, Harry’s house was remarkably undefended, and Eggsy and Merlin were able to get inside without much difficulty. They crept towards the front room, where they could hear a radio crooning out some Argentine love songs. They stopped very suddenly as a shadow moved inside the room, the black silhouette against the door looking remarkably familiar.

“ _ Camila,  _ I have told you before,” Harry’s voice suddenly rang out from the other room. “If I don’t answer the door, then I do not need your services today-”

“We’re not Camila, Harry.”

There was a pause, a shuffling step, and then Harry came around the corner. He stopped in the doorframe, staring wide-eyed at both Merlin and Eggsy. Merlin and Eggsy stared back. Harry was far from the confident agent he had once been - the oversized cardigan he wore seemed to dwarf his body, as if he’d lost several pounds very quickly. The starburst scar from his near-fatal shooting featured prominently on his left temple, and the eye below it was white and heavily scarred. The right eye didn’t look completely normal either - it seemed quite hazy, but it was still the recogniseable brown Eggsy had fallen in love with.

“...Eggsy?” Harry murmured faintly. “Merlin?”

Eggsy tried and failed to hold back a sob, but as Harry’s eyes fell solely on him, he could not help but burst into tears behind his hands. He felt Merlin’s hands on his shoulders, trying to comfort him, but it wasn’t enough, he needed  _ Harry _ . He blindly stepped forward, his hands reaching out like a child's, reaching until they fisted in the light cardigan Harry wore. And then he felt Harry’s arms wrapping around him, and his soothing scent filling his nose, and he cried more openly, not even attempting to hide his tears anymore. He felt another of arms wrap around him as Merlin came forward to hug Harry too, and for a few minutes they stood there, swaying in the corridor as they tried to remember how each other felt in their arms.

“Eggsy, Merlin…” Harry murmured into Eggsy’s hair. “You… you shouldn’t be here.”

“Shouldn’t be here my  _ arse _ .” Merlin muttered, his brogue so thick from pent up emotion that it was nearly impossible to understand. “You bloody fool, you should’ve  _ never  _ left.”

Harry murmured something, but it was lost in the jumble of jumpers that were involved in the hug. At some point all three of them managed to maneuver themselves into the living room and onto Harry’s tiny sofa, each of them cuddled up tight you there was enough room. Eggsy pressed his face into the crook of Harry’s neck, inhaling the scent that he’d been missing for so long.

“Why did you leave, Harry?” he asked quietly. “Why didn’t you fucking come back-”

He broke off with a choked sob. He felt Harry’s hand smooth up and down his back, and a kiss was pressed into his hair.

“I thought it was for the best.” Harry replied. “If I’d known you two would take it so hard-”

“You  _ should’ve  _ known we’d never leave you, no matter what happened.” Merlin said firmly. “And as a matter of fact, what  _ did  _ happen?”

Harry was silent for a minute, before he began telling his story. “It turns out,” he said quietly. “When a black man turns a gun on a white man, the police and paramedics are on scene almost immediately. That’s racism for you. Of course, the police didn’t catch Valentine, but a black man in a predominantly white neighbourhood sticks out, and the neighbours had 911 on speed-dial.”

“That… that’s  _ sick _ , Harry.” Eggsy murmured, already looking a little pale. “Like, actually disgusting-”

“It is. They all told the police that it was Valentine who’d done the shooting, not me, which is how I managed to get out of arrest. They took me straight to the hospital, put me in a coma, removed the bullet…”

“And then you got better and ran away to the Patagonian outback.” Merlin muttered

“I didn’t get better for a long time. When I woke up, I could barely remember my own name, let alone Kingsman. And that wasn’t all - I’d get angry for no reason, I couldn’t focus on tasks, I was blind in one eye and essentially blind in the other, I wasn’t  _ me _ . And then my memories came back, and I remembered the SIM cards, and what I’d done at the church…”

“You thought the SIM cards gave you permanent damage?”

“The SIM cards turned on my aggressive centres and turned off inhibitors. That’s what the bullet looked to have done too. How could I come back to Kingsman, to people I loved, when I knew what I could do?”

“We would’ve done  _ everything  _ to get you back to speed.” Merlin said firmly. Harry shook your head.

“I knew that, but on a subconscious level, I… I didn’t want you to see me like this. I was so  _ ashamed _ \- I mean, you and Eggsy, part of Kingsman, elite  _ agents _ … And then me, a blind old man with the temper of an angry  _ ass _ .”

“That’s not-”

“We don’t-”

Merlin and Eggsy started protesting at the same time, but Harry silenced them both with a look. 

“I appreciate your vocal defence of me. But that’s how I saw things. Of course, then I had weeks of therapy, and things… things got better. I was still blind, but I got my anger under control, my focus and memory improved. But by then it had been  _ months  _ since I saw you two. I thought you might’ve moved on, replaced me...”

“Fat chance of that.” Eggsy said.

“You’re one of a kind, Harry.” Merlin agreed. “We could never replace you with anyone.”

“You mean the world to us.” Eggsy leaned up and pressed a kiss to the corner of Harry’s mouth. “Seriously. We wouldn’t change you for anything.”

“Never.”

“Never  _ ever _ .”

“Boys…” Harry looked quite lost and overwhelmed, so Eggsy pressed a proper kiss to his mouth. It was like they’d never been apart - Eggsy’s mouth fitted to Harry’s like a jigsaw piece, and the kiss was warm and reassuring. Harry melted into Eggsy’s touch almost immediately, the hand on Eggsy’s back fisting lightly into the back of his jumper. They only broke apart when air became an issue, and even then, they rested their foreheads together, their breaths intermingling with each other.

“We’re never leaving you.” Eggsy told him firmly. “Not ever.”

“Agreed.” Merlin said. “Although I am getting out of this cuddle pile before it gets too  _ mushy _ .”

Harry let out a bark of laughter, and Eggsy’s heart soared at the sound - he didn’t know how much he’d missed it. “I’m sorry, Merlin.” Harry said, smiling at him. “I forgot how uncomfortable you are with romance.”

“I’ll remind you sometimes.” Merlin gave him an indulgent smile, before slipping out from under his arm. “But right now, I am going to make us all lunch - I’ve don’t know if you’ve noticed Eggsy, but Harry is skin and bones.

“I’m not-” Harry was cut of by a slight grunt of pain as Eggsy jabbed his side with his finger.

“He  _ is _ .” Eggsy said, shock tinting his voice. “Harry, have you not been eating properly or-”

“Eggsy, don’t  _ fuss _ . I’ve just not mastered the art of cooking blind yet.”

“I’d say,” Merlin was now in the kitchen, which connected to the living room via a large arch. “Harry, is there anything edible in your cupboards?”

“Probably not. There might be some beans somewhere...” 

“I’ll see if I can find them.” As Merlin rooted around in the cupboard, Eggsy snuggled up even closer to Harry. Harry’s hand automatically went to his hair and started to methodically card through it. Eggsy didn’t know he missed the soothing motion so much until Harry had started to do it, and he pushed his head into Harry’s hand, seeking more contact.

“I missed you so much, Harry.” he murmured. “So  _ fucking  _ much.”

“I missed you too.” Harry replied, his hand stilling so he could drop a kiss onto the crown of his head. “You and Merlin. I thought about the both of you, when they took me to hospital. Thought about you seeing what had happened, what I’d done-”

“We won’t ever hold that against you, Harry. Promise.”

“Thank you, Eggsy.”

“Don’t thank me, it’s the truth.” Eggsy was silent for a while, listening to the slight clanking sound Merlin was making in the kitchen. “What was it like, though?”

“What do you mean?”

“What was it like? To think you were dying?”

“I knew I wouldn’t die.” Harry said quietly, curling a finger in Eggsy’s hair. Eggsy frowned at him.

“How come?”

“Because both you and Merlin were on the line. You were  _ there _ . I know when I die-”

“You’ll die alone?” Merlin stuck his head out of the kitchen and frowned at Harry. “Harry, are you really paraphrasing  _ Star Trek _ at a time like this?”

“It seemed fitting!”

“Well, don’t.” Merlin exited the kitchen with a frown. “There’s nothing I can cook with in there - I’m going into town. Eggsy, convince Harry not to do such a dumb thing again whilst I’m gone.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“I don’t really care how, fuck him if you have to-” Merlin’s voice became muffled as he walked into the hallway and out of sight. “But when I come back, I want him looking less like a wounded martyr, you get me?”

The front door shut with a loud slam. Eggsy stared at the spot where Merlin had once stood, before turning to Harry with a sultry grin.

“So,” Eggsy said. “Should we do as the doctor asked?”

The smile Harry gave him was predatory, but the kiss was… hesitant, almost as if Harry was afraid Eggsy was going to evaporate and drift away beneath his lips. Eggsy clambered into his lap and pressed feather light kisses across his lips, before then brushing his lips along his cheeks, watching as Harry’s eyelashes fluttered downwards at the motion. He pressed a soft kiss to the starburst scar on Harry’s eye, before moving and pressing a butterfly kiss to the curve of Harry’s ear.

“You know I love you, right?” Eggsy murmured into his ear. “Cause I do. And I’m not going to leave you, come hell or high water.”

“You say that now.” Harry shifted beneath Eggsy, but Eggsy sat firm.

“It’s true though! I promise Harry, I don’t give a shit what that bullet did to you, you’re still my posh bastard who kicked someone’s arse whilst defending my honour.”

“Can’t exactly defend your honour now-”

“Piss off, Harry. I’m not with you cause you beat up Rottweiler and his goons. I’m here cause I wanted  _ you _ . I wanted  _ you,  _ Harry, I wanted the guy who looked after me, and didn’t look down on me when I told him I was markless, and who made me feel like I was  _ worth  _ something.”

“Eggsy…”

“ _ No _ , Harry. You’re not convincing me to leave. I don’t give a shit - maybe that bullet means you can’t read anymore, or that sometimes you forget things, or maybe you can’t get it up sometimes -  _ I do not give a shit _ .”

Harry was silent for a moment. “You truly believe that, don’t you?” he said quietly. “It’s true, all of those things- I can’t read, I’m forgetful, sometimes I can’t perform as expected-”

“And I won’t leave because of them. I’ll help as much as I can, I’ll be patient when you forget things - and heck, if you thought sex was the only thing I was interested in, then why would I be with Merlin? I want to do whatever’s comfortable for you - if it means no sex, then so be it. If it means you want me to get off you now and cuddle-”

Eggsy was interrupted by Harry pressing a brief kiss to his lips.

“Oh I wouldn’t say that.” Harry said, the mischievous spark Eggsy had loved flickering into life in his scarred eyes. “I think I would be rather more comfortable with three fingers up your arse-”

Whatever Harry was about to say was muffled by Eggsy’s lips crashing into his once more, harder and more biting than the previous kisses. Eggsy felt Harry smile against his lips, as his hands drifted to cup Eggsy’s backside. Eggsy broke the kiss with a moan, and pushed his hips into Harry’s hands.

“In that case,” Eggsy said in a slightly breathless voice. “why are we not in bed yet?”

The trek up to the bedroom was a little slow - Harry took his time on the stairs, and it did not help that Eggsy kept distracting him from his task with soft caresses and light kisses. But it wasn’t long before they were both fighting their clothes off and tumbling into Harry’s rather spartan bedroom. Although the room did not look as lavish as Harry’s back at home, Eggsy was pleased to discover that Harry had not given up his creature comforts when it came to his bed, which was just as comfortable as the one back home.

He climbed onto the bed, shirt already somewhere near the door and his jeans being frantically shucked off and shoved down the side of the bed. Harry lay down beside him, cardigan and shirt thrown over the back of a nearby chair, and pulled him in for more open mouthed kisses. They stayed like that for some time, lips moving and upper bodies writhing, Harry’s arms wrapped around Eggsy in a soft, safe cage and Eggsy never feeling so at peace as he was now. Eggsy slid his arms down Harry’s sides, feeling Harry smile against his lips as his hands drifted over his ticklish stomach. But as Eggsy fiddled with the button on Harry’s trousers, Harry suddenly stiffened. Eggsy broke the kiss and gave him a concerned look.

“I, ah, don’t think my body is going to play ball this time.” Harry admitted a little sheepishly. Eggsy gave him a light, reassuring kiss.

“I don’t mind. I like how you look whether you can get it up or not.” Eggsy’s hands came around from the front of his trousers to the back, and gave his arse a small squeeze. In the most innocent of voices, Eggsy asked; “Still up for getting your fingers up my arse?”

Harry smiled a little ferally, before pressing his lips back to Eggsy’s with a growl. He did not stop Eggsy from attacking the front button of his trousers once more, and wriggled so that Eggsy could peel them off him. Even soft, Harry’s cock made an impressive bulge in his briefs, one that Eggsy gave a comforting squeeze to. They kissed and licked and traced the sinewy muscles of each other’s bodies, each relearning their favourite parts and finding new ones. With a soft murmur Harry got Eggsy to peel off his underwear and roll onto his front, exposing his backside to the warm Patagonian air.

“You didn’t have a tattoo when I last saw you.” Harry murmured, pressing kisses down his spine. Eggsy turned his head and gave him a surprised look.

“How can you tell that?”

“I can still see the odd few colours sometimes. In fuzzy blobs, mostly. And it’s hard to miss the colour splash against your skin.” Harry dragged one finger across where Eggsy’s tattoo lay on his lower back, before leaning forward and pressing a light kiss to it. “You’ll have to tell me what it is though.”

“It’s… ah, you’re going to think it’s really stupid-”

“Eggsy.”

“See, Jamal didn’t give me a choice, and I just wanted one so bad and I  _ swear  _ it wasn’t my fault that he did it-”

“ _ Eggsy. _ ”

“It’s… it’s a set of tits, alright? As in the birds. I told him not to but- Harry, stop  _ laughing _ , it’s not funny-!” Eggsy fell silent with a huff as Harry rested his forehead and laughed, a deep robust sound that vibrated through his body. Eggsy reached back and cuffed his ear lightly, being the only part of Harry’s body he could reach, and Harry pressed a light kiss to his back in apology. 

“My apologies,” Harry finally said, his light from mirth. “But why did you need the tattoo? Was it a lost bet?”

Eggsy went silent, and buried his face into the duvet. Herry, sensing something was wrong, moved his hand away from the mark.

“Eggsy…?”

“I’m surprised you can’t feel it.” There was silence, before Harry began to map the tattooed skin, a little more carefully. His fingers dragged and caught against the thread-like scars that patterned the tattoo, and Harry paid particular attention to them, tracing each one with a feather light touch. Eggsy could pinpoint the exact moment Harry realised what he was tracing, as the other man spread his palm across the expanse of his back and sucked in a sharp breath.

“Oh, Eggsy…”

“I wanted it to be you.” Eggsy murmured into the bed, refusing to look up at Harry. “Or Merlin. I wanted it to be the both of you so bad that I didn’t want to know what it would feel like to have someone different.”

There was a moment of quiet, before Harry was gently coaxing Eggsy to lay on his side, and then Harry was kissing him with the sweetest tenderness. They exchanged soft kisses until they weren’t enough and then they moved into open-mouthed presses, nipping and sucking at each other's’ lips and tongues. By the time Harry’s hands had made their way back down to Eggsy’s arse, Eggsy’s cock had gone from emotionally flagging to full hardness. As Harry circled his pucker with a broad finger, Eggsy could not help but whine.

“Get on top of me.” Harry murmured to him. “I want to see you.”

Eggsy moaned and complied, swinging one leg over Harry’s hips. As he did so, Harry reached over to his bedside cabinet and grasped around the surface, until his fingers curled around a small bottle on the side cabinet, which Eggsy guessed to be lube. Harry squeezed a little onto his palm, warming it a little before using it to palm Eggsy’s erect cock. The effect was instantaneous - within a few seconds, Eggsy was reduced to a writhing puddle of a man, placing desperate open mouthed kisses against the column of Harry’s throat. Harry didn’t linger at his cock for long, perhaps sensing Eggsy wouldn’t last long if he did. He squirted a little more lube on his fingers, before moving towards Eggsy’s pucker once more.

The first finger earned a blissful sigh from Eggsy, the warm stretch sending pleasurable tingles all the way down to his toes. He pushed himself back onto the digit, his back forming a bow as he did so, his fingernails digging into Harry’s warm shoulders. He rocked on his knees as Harry worked his finger in and out of his entrance, letting little whimpers escape his mouth as each thrust warmed his body from the inside out. He looked up at Harry as he added a second finger - Harry had his eyes closed, but his face was a picture of pleasure, drawn from hearing Eggsy’s moans and the feel of him clenching around his fingers. Eggsy could not help but whine, a bolt of pleasure shooting straight through his cock. 

“Harry…” Eggsy began to roll his hips more vigorously as Harry’s broad fingers stretched out his arse. He could feel Harry’s intense gaze on his face, watching him come apart, and moaned, his gaze turning him on more than he had ever thought possible. By the time Harry had slicked up and pressed in a third finger, Eggsy was panting, covered in a sheen of sweat. He snapped his hips in time to Harry’s thrusting fingers, and nearly cried as Harry’s fingers brushed his prostate. It wouldn’t be long now, Eggsy could feel the tightening in his balls, the heady desperation that tinted his movements-

“Harry, I’m gonna- I’m-”

“Come on, Eggsy, come for me-”

One more look at Harry’s shut-eyed enraptured face was all it took. Eggsy came with a strangled cry, his spunk shooting out of his barely touched cock onto Harry’s stomach. He all but collapsed onto Harry, shaking and shuddering with the strength of his orgasm. He was barely aware of Harry carefully moving him to his side, only that it was more cozy here than it was there, and he curled up under Harry’s arms, boneless and relaxed.

In the haze of post-coital bliss, Eggsy vaguely heard the sound of the front door opening, and then closing. There was the rustling of plastic, a clank of keys, before a voice called out-

“Anyone home?”

“Up here, Merlin.” Eggsy felt rather than heard Harry’s reply. There was a creak of floorboards as Merlin made his way up the staircase, and then the bedroom door swung open.

“Aww, how sweet.” Merlin drawled, a hint of a smile in his voice. “I should take photographs for blackmail purposes.”

“Haven’t got anything worth blackmailing me for.” Eggsy smiled a little sleepily.

“Do you really want to try blackmailing me?” Harry replied, and Eggsy could just imagine the arched eyebrow. “How about you forget blackmail and come join us in bed?”

“Alas, as much as I would like to cuddle with your sweaty post-sex bodies - which stink, by the way, so I’m going to open a window - as nice as that sounds, someone has to make a proper meal for you, Mr Hart. And since Eggsy can’t boil an egg-”

“Lunch can wait, Merlin.” Eggsy murmured, reaching out a hand in what he hoped was Merlin’s general direction. “Come join us for a nap.”

“It’s two in the afternoon.”

“Perfect napping time, I reckon.”

There was a pause, before Merlin sighed. Eggsy cracked open an eye to see Merlin stripping off his jumper and kicking his shoes into the corner.

“I swear to God,” Merlin muttered as he pulled off his socks. “After lunch we are all going to get in the bath and I am going to make sure you both smell more like human beings than sex.”

There was no malice in his tone, so Eggsy laughed. “All three of us at the same time, Merlin?” he asked as Merlin made quick work of the rest of his clothes and joined them in the bed.

“I’m not entirely sure we’ll all fit in my bath.” Harry said, leaning across to press a quick kiss to Merlin’s forehead. Merlin grumbled, swatting his face away with his free hand, as the other wrapped itself around Eggsy’s waist.

“We will all fit in it somehow,” Merlin muttered. “I will make it happen.”

Eggsy smiled at the both of them. The warm comfort of both men wrapped around him sank deep into his bones. His mind was, for once, delightfully light and fuzzy, and he couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else at this moment in time. He felt safe and secure, and the hole in his chest where a Harry-sized chunk had resided finally began to close over.

He was home.


End file.
